Versailles, vase par Ballin
Eugène Atget
French, 1857–1927
1905
A close, formal photograph by Eugène Atget of an ornate garden urn at Versailles, printed as an albumen silver photograph to document and preserve architectural and decorative detail.
The urn fills the frame with a monumental immediacy—deeply carved acanthus leaves and coiled ram-head handles in soft, silvery tones while the geometries of the garden recede into a blurred background.
Part of Atget’s systematic recording of Paris and its monuments, this image exemplifies how early documentary photography made visible and conserved everyday historic ornament, shaping later modernist and archival approaches to urban imagery.
Medium
Albumen silver print
Dimensions
Approx. 8 9/16 × 7 1/16" (21.8 × 18 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Abbott-Levy Collection. Acquired through the generosity of Shirley C. Burden, and Family of Man Fund
Accession
1.1969.127
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
