Dolmen, Cap del Puetch, Ariège, France

c. 1865–69

Arthur A. Taylor

(French, active 1850–d. 1873)

France, 19th century

G. Arosa et Cie process print from waxed paper negative

Image: 33.1 x 24.7 cm (13 1/16 x 9 3/4 in.); Matted: 45.7 x 55.9 cm (18 x 22 in.)

John L. Severance Fund 1995.237

Location: not on view

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Description

A British-born photographer, Taylor lived in Marseille and became a member of the Société Française de Photographie in 1860. Taking photographs in city parks and the surrounding countryside, as well as in Ariège and Seine-et-Oise, he often worked with the establishment G. Arosa et Cie in Saint-Cloud to produce his ink-based prints made from photographs according to the publisher’s unique process. This print is likely made from a shellac base, for Taylor wrote several articles for British and American photographic journals on a shellac printing process in 1866 and 1867. After printing, the images would be mounted onto a heavy card stock and sold to be collected in albums. Here, the subject, a dolmen, or Neolithic tomb, reflects 19th-century interest in distant history and early monuments.