Church of Villeneuve le Comte, Seine-et-Marne (Eglise de Villeneuve le Comte, Seine-et-Marne)

Charles Marville worked as a painter and illustrator until he took up photography in 1850, contributing images to commercially published photo albums, reproducing works of art in the Louvre, and documenting the decorations for imperial events. By 1862 his carefully composed images had earned him the designation “Photographer of the City of Paris,” as well as a commission to document Baron Haussmann’s modernization of the city. Marville also recorded the restoration of many of the great French cathedrals, a program championed by Gothic Revival architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. This photograph depicts one of Viollet-le-Duc’s projects before restoration: the 13th-century Church of Our Lady of the Nativity, located in the small village of Villeneuve-le-Comte, outside Paris. With subtle gradations in tonality and a sharp focus, Marville captured the church’s main entrance in rich detail, including brooms inside the doorway to show scale and human presence.