Amiens, Northern Façade of the Transept (1852): Art, History and Details

Amiens, Northern Façade of the Transept (1852) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Henri Le Secq (French, 1818–1882).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

A pioneering French photographer, Le Secq is best known for his elaborate photographic studies of French architecture. His extensive photographic portrait of Amiens began in 1850 and continued for several years. This detail of the cathedral’s exterior beautifully describes his skill at expressively interpreting historic architecture. The photograph not only displays Le Secq’s preference and talent for isolating fragments of buildings, but even more impressively attests to his ability to capture the play of light and shade over stone sculpture. He deftly used raking light to infuse vitality and plasticity to the centrally positioned carved figure and the architectural elements surrounding it. The lowered frontal camera position stresses an order and formality that Le Secq believed was inherent in Gothic cathedrals.

Object facts

• Title: Amiens, Northern Façade of the Transept
• Date: 1852
• Creator attribution: Henri Le Secq (French, 1818–1882)
• Culture: France, 19th century
• Type: Photograph
• Technique: salted paper print from calotype negative
• Dimensions: Image: 32.3 x 23.2 cm (12 11/16 x 9 1/8 in.); Matted: 61 x 50.8 cm (24 x 20 in.)
• Collection: PH - French 19th Century
• Department: Photography
• Accession number: 1996.253

Collection credit

Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Cleveland Museum of Art, “Rare Korean Screen Painting, Important Baroque Drawing, Sheeler Drawing Join the Museum Collection,” October 10, 1996, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.