The Royal Porcelain Factory at Sèvres
Henri-Victor Regnault (French, 1810–1878)
c. 1851–1852
- Medium
- salted paper print from calotype negative
- Classification
- Photograph
- Dimensions
- Image: 35.1 x 43.9 cm (13 13/16 x 17 5/16 in.); Matted: 55.9 x 66 cm (22 x 26 in.)
- Culture
- France, 19th century
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Photography
- Credit line
- John L. Severance Fund
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Teens profiles and older: its museum says too little about what it shows to place it for younger viewers. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
A chemist and physicist known for his studies in thermodynamics and the properties of gases, Henri-Victor Regnault was director of France's renowned Sèvres porcelain factory from 1852 to 1871. He was also a master of early scientific, portrait, and landscape photography. Aside from a technical interest in its practical application, Regnault accepted photography as a means of personal expression. In this poetic image, the aerial viewpoint and soft light and shadow unite the strong, geometric forms of the town and factory buildings with the dense foliage of the surrounding countryside.
