The Bridge of Palalda (near Amelieles-Bains) (1851–52): Art, History and Details

The Bridge of Palalda (near Amelieles-Bains) (1851–52) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Gustave Le Gray (French, 1820–1884).

The work and its context

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

In 1851, Gustave Le Gray and his friend, photographer Auguste Mestral, traveled throughout southwestern France for the Commission of Historic French Monuments to document sites of historical importance, especially those in urgent need of, or undergoing, restoration. This image was taken from the left bank of the Tech River, situated below the old town of Palalda, four miles from the Spanish border. Le Gray stressed the rugged landscape over a close-up rendering of the ancient bridge, which was not on his list of assigned sites.

Object facts

• Title: The Bridge of Palalda (near Amelieles-Bains)
• Date: 1851–52
• Creator attribution: Gustave Le Gray (French, 1820–1884)
• Culture: France, 19th century
• Type: Photograph
• Technique: salted paper print from waxed-paper negative
• Dimensions: Image: 23.8 x 32.7 cm (9 3/8 x 12 7/8 in.); Matted: 50.8 x 61 cm (20 x 24 in.)
• Collection: PH - French 19th Century
• Department: Photography
• Accession number: 1987.130

A detail from the museum

The sheer cliff seems to blend into the bridge mentioned in the work's title, resulting in visual uncertainty and spatial tension.

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E Hinson. Catalogue of Photography. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996.
• Hinson, Tom E. "The Monet of Photography." Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 45, no. 4 (April 2005): 6-8.

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.