Hôtel de Bourgtheroulde, Rouen 1870 - 1894

Médéric Mieusement captured the Hôtel de Bourgtheroulde in Rouen with this photograph. The building's facade is organized horizontally, emphasizing the carved friezes and the rhythmic spacing of the arched windows. The texture of the stone, rendered in sepia tones, highlights the intricate relief work, creating a tactile quality despite the image’s two-dimensionality. This play with texture and form is not merely decorative; it evokes the era's fascination with historical preservation. Considered through a structuralist lens, the photograph presents the hotel as a system of signs. The architectural details—arches, carvings, and windows—function like language, communicating the values and aesthetics of the past. Mieusement's photograph doesn't just document a building. It uses the architecture's inherent semiotic system to engage with ideas of memory, history, and representation. Note how the formal qualities of the photograph underscore its cultural significance, inviting us to decode the complex interplay between the artwork and its historical context.