Gipsmodel voor beeldhouwwerk op het Palais du Louvre: "La Sculpture et la Peinture" door François Félix Roubaud c. 1855 - 1857

This photograph by Edouard Baldus captures the plaster model for the sculpture "La Sculpture et la Peinture" created for the Palais du Louvre. The composition is rigidly symmetrical; its structural balance immediately apparent. Two allegorical figures sit at either side of the sculpture, and frame the space between them. The eye is led centrally to a bust above, creating a rising vertical axis. Baldus's choice to photograph this model brings forth questions about representation itself. Sculpture, traditionally a three-dimensional art form, is here mediated through the two-dimensional photographic plane. In doing so, Baldus invites us to consider the interplay between object and image. He destabilizes the conventional hierarchy where sculpture is perceived as the original and photography as merely its copy. The sepia tones of the photograph lend the sculpture a timeless quality, while the stark contrast between light and shadow accentuates its texture and depth. This formal quality transforms a mere model into a study of form and representation.