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1813-1879 · French
Charles Marville (1813-1879) is the photographer of Paris during Baron Haussmann's transformation. As 'photographe de la Ville de Paris' (1862), he documented both the disappearing medieval streets of the Vieux Paris and the new Haussmannian boulevards — creating an irreplaceable archive of 19th-century urban transformation.
Public domain since 1950 · CPI L.123-1
Held at
Born Charles-François Bossu in Paris ("Bossu" meaning "hunchback" in French — the reason he later adopted the pseudonym "Marville" around 1832, fearing it would harm his artistic career), Marville began photography in the 1850s. After early commissions documenting Chartres and Reims cathedrals for the Commission des Monuments Historiques (1854), he was appointed photographer to the City of Paris in 1858 (officially confirmed in 1862) by Baron Haussmann to document the medieval streets being demolished for the new boulevards — the most ambitious urban renewal of the 19th century. His pre-Haussmann street views (Rue de Constantine, Rue des Marmousets, Rue du Haut-Moulin) are the irreplaceable visual record of a vanishing Paris. He also documented Haussmann's new boulevards (Saint-Germain, Saint-Michel, Haussmann), the Hôtel de Ville before and after its 1871 Commune burning, the Bois de Boulogne pavilions, and the standardized urban furniture (gas streetlamps) that defined imperial modernity. Held at Musée Carnavalet (over 760 prints plus several hundred glass plates at the BHVP), MET, Getty Center, George Eastman Museum, Museo Cerralbo, State Library of Victoria (Melbourne), Musée de Strasbourg. Public domain since 1950. His Paris archive is foundational for Maison Picturale's local heritage practice in the 20th arrondissement.
Signature processes
The alternative processes practised by Charles Marville, printed today at Maison Picturale using Vision Picturale's non-toxic reformulated chemistry.
Essential works
A curated selection of public-domain works by Charles Marville, reinterpretable as contemporary prints by Maison Picturale's master printers. Each artwork page details the original process and its atelier equivalent.
Print after — systematic mention on the certificate of authenticity.
c. 1855 · Albumen silver print
Pre-Haussmann street view on the Île de la Cité, captured shortly before demolition for Hôtel-Dieu.
Original held at : Metropolitan Museum of Art · Musée Carnavalet
Reference file source : Wikimedia Commons / MET Open Access
c. 1865 · Albumen silver print
Medieval street on the Île de la Cité documented before demolition during Haussmann's renovations.
Original held at : Musée Carnavalet
Reference file source : Wikimedia Commons / Musée Carnavalet [TO VERIFY]
c. 1853-70 · Albumen silver print
Old Parisian street on the Île de la Cité, photographed from the flower market.
Original held at : Musée Carnavalet
Reference file source : Wikimedia Commons / Musée Carnavalet
c. 1853-70 · Albumen silver print
The newly opened Haussmannian boulevard during its piercing through the Left Bank.
Original held at : State Library of Victoria, Melbourne
Reference file source : Wikimedia Commons / State Library of Victoria
c. 1853-70 · Albumen silver print
New Haussmannian boulevard viewed from the Fontaine Saint-Michel.
Original held at : State Library of Victoria, Melbourne
Reference file source : Wikimedia Commons / State Library of Victoria
c. 1853-70 · Albumen silver print
The eponymous boulevard of Baron Haussmann during construction.
Original held at : State Library of Victoria, Melbourne
Reference file source : Wikimedia Commons / State Library of Victoria
c. 1877 · Albumen silver print
Detailed study of an ornate gas streetlamp by the Louvre — part of Marville's series on Parisian street furniture.
Original held at : J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Reference file source : Wikimedia Commons / J. Paul Getty Museum / Google Art Project
c. 1877 · Albumen silver print
Wall-mounted lamp console displaying street name signs — documentation of Haussmann's urban standardization.
Original held at : J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Reference file source : Wikimedia Commons / J. Paul Getty Museum / Google Art Project
c. 1865 · Albumen silver print
The Renaissance Hôtel de Ville before it was burned during the Paris Commune (1871).
Original held at : George Eastman Museum, Rochester
Reference file source : Wikimedia Commons / George Eastman Museum / Google Art Project
1871 · Albumen silver print
Ruins of the Hôtel de Ville after the fires set during the Paris Commune.
Original held at : Museo Cerralbo, Madrid
Reference file source : Wikimedia Commons / Museo Cerralbo / Google Art Project
c. 1854 · Salted paper print from paper negative
Early calotype documentation of Gothic statuary as part of restoration mission for the Commission des Monuments Historiques.
Original held at : Metropolitan Museum of Art
Reference file source : Wikimedia Commons / MET Open Access
c. 1850-53 · Salted paper print from paper negative
Atmospheric study of a Parisian park alley — light, shadow, and verticals.
Original held at : Metropolitan Museum of Art
Reference file source : Wikimedia Commons / MET Open Access
12 of 13 works
The documented corpus
The rest of Charles Marville's public-domain corpus: plates kept in our editorial archives. Reproducible on request, without dedicated editorial study.
7 archived plates
c. 1853-70
Albumen silver print
c. 1865
Albumen silver print
c. 1853-70
Albumen silver print
c. 1877
Albumen silver print
c. 1854
Salted paper print
c. 1858-60
Albumen silver print
c. 1858-60
Albumen silver print
Maison Picturale produces on commission contemporary prints after works by Charles Marville that have entered the public domain. Hand-printed by master printers Tristan Sidem and Raphaël Lebas de Lacour on 640 gsm cotton paper, signed and numbered in limited edition, with a certificate of authenticity explicitly mentioning the "after" nature of the reinterpretation.
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