Untitled [Damascus Gate, Jerusalem, detail]

This daguerreotype is a detail from the wall shown in the following lot. The photographer has chosen a vertical cut through the structure to highlight the few decorative elements that do exist on what at a greater distance appears to be a rather plain and austere frontage. It is a finely controlled picture in which he describes the architectural detail well. You can clearly see the gaps in the crenellations from where boiling liquid could be poured on would-be invaders. He uses the sun to define the sculptural qualities of the pilaster and corbelling above and balances the light area beneath the arch with the sky at the top. In so doing he creates an image that appears symmetrical about both axes, but far from static, with an arresting void at the centre.