Leeuwenpoort in Mycene before 1910

Frédéric Boissonnas made this photograph of the Lion Gate at Mycenae sometime between 1858 and 1946. It's a gelatin silver print, a process that dominated photographic printing for over a century. The gelatin silver print involves coating paper with light-sensitive silver halide crystals, resulting in a range of tones from cool blacks to warm grays. Here, the process captures the rough, monumental stonework of the gate, emphasizing its texture and imposing scale. Boissonnas likely used a large format camera, requiring a slow, deliberate approach to capture the scene. This medium allows for incredible detail, highlighting the labor-intensive construction of the gate and the wear of centuries. Photography in this period was not just about capturing an image, but about bearing witness to history and making it accessible to a wider audience. The photograph reminds us that every image, like every object, carries the weight of its making, blurring the lines between documentation, art, and the human story behind it.