Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey1841261. Paris. 1841. Etude de plantes.
Daguerreotype7 1/2 x 7 1/2 ins (19 x 19 cm)
Christie's - New YorkChristies - NY (Sale: 2396, Lot: 3 - Oct 7, 2010 - A Historic Photographic Grand Tour: Important Daguerreotypes by Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey)
Incised on the plate 'Paris 1841 GdeP'
Titled, dated and numbered in ink on a label (affixed to verso)
Girault de Prangey was a passionate horticulturalist and his later photographic interests were almost entirely devoted to documenting the cultivated beautiful and exotic specimens in his greenhouses and gardens. Photographing the colour green was extremely difficult using the daguerreotype process, as it tended to appear as solid black on the plate. Here, Girault de Prangey has mastered the intricacies of the plant study and shows in stunning detail the light and shadow, the veins of the leaves and creates a radical, tightly cropped composition with subtle tonal gradations.
LL/39311
