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“You will take delight...if I may flatter myself in saying so, in seeing the uses to which I have put the most helpful instrument invented by Daguerre.” - Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey

The historic photographic grand tour of Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey (1804–1892) is relived through this exceptional collection of important daguerreotypes, the third part in a series of his works to be sold at auction. Equipped with a new technology capable of recording with dazzling and unprecedented fidelity the wondrous sights he discovered, Girault de Prangey set out on a voyage of exploration through the eastern Mediterranean in the early 1840s. This sale offers photographic records of the wonders he encountered along his way…

Through the Lens
Girault de Prangey was among the first to recognize the potential of Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre’s invention, the daguerreotype, to serve his scientific documentation and analysis of architecture. Announced in 1839 by François Arago, this revolutionary technique involved translating a positive image directly from life through camera and lens to a metal support. Ahead of Girault de Prangey’s epic journey, he mastered the technique in 1841, learning the process of forming images on a highly-polished silver surface. Using the fine chemistry of this new photographic process, he was able to capture with forensic precision the exact features of the physical world.

All that Glitters
The intricate procedure and materials needed to create daguerreotype plates lends the finished product a jewel-like quality. More than just visual mementoes, these exquisite objects provide a tangible link to the traditional Grand Tour sites of the ancient classical civilizations of Rome and Greece, and the less traveled territories of the Eastern Mediterranean, including Asia, Syria, Palestine and Egypt. Girault de Prangey’s photographs are beautifully executed and so well-considered in choice of subject; the perfect alliance of art and science, they represent a great technical accomplishment and one of exceptional cultural value.