Versailles, Basin de Neptune 1902

Eugène Atget created this photograph of the Basin de Neptune at Versailles using a large-format camera, likely around the turn of the 20th century. The image is a study in contrasts, capturing the grandeur of the formal gardens through a muted, almost melancholic lens. Atget used the wet collodion process, printing on albumen paper, which gives the photograph its soft tonal range and distinctive sepia tone. These photographic techniques, though well-established by Atget’s time, required considerable skill. His choice to continue using them is significant. The sculpture itself represents the aspirations of Louis XIV, literally cast in stone through the labor of many artisans. Atget, however, captured it at a moment when such aspirations were fading. His photographs, made for documentation and for sale to other artists, remind us that even the grandest statements of power are subject to time's relentless processes. Atget’s work underscores the importance of considering not just what is depicted, but how it is made, and what that making signifies.