Pont Saint-Bénézet, Avignon. Ca. 1861. Albumen print, mounted to card. 21,2 x 28 cm (mount ca. 28,7 x 35 cm). Titled “Arles (Pont de St Benézé)” (sic); annotated “Avignon” in pencil and stamped “E. Baldus” in black ink below the image on the mount.
Grande Pyramide vue de l'Est. 1870s. Albumen print. 28,8 x 42 cm. With the photographer's signature in the negative in lower right corner, as well as numbered and titled in the negative in lower left corner.
Émile Béchard produced some of the most evocative photographs of Egypt in the late 19th century. Unlike the large, highly commercial studios of Pascal Sébah, Félix Bonfils, Hippolyte Arnoux, and the Zangaki Brothers, Béchard’s practice was comparatively short-lived resulting in a more limited and consequently scarcer body of work. His photographs are distinguished by a restrained compositional elegance and quiet attention to light, scale, and atmosphere, lending his views of monuments and landscapes a contemplative quality that sets them apart from the more standardized tourist views of the period.
Béchard, Émile
Market and street scenes in Cairo, Thèbes and Port d' Assouan
Los 4018
Schätzung
800€ (US$ 909)
Market and street scenes in Cairo, Thèbes and Port d'Assouan. Mid-1870s. 5 albumen prints, mounted to card. Circa 27 x 21,5 cm and reverse. Each with photographer's name in lower right corner, as well as numbered and titled in lower right/left in the negative, collector's stamp "P. Reinhart-Sulzer, Winterthur" in lower right corner on the mount.
The images in this group include an Arabian café, a market spice seller, women washing laundry, Thèbes and Port d'Assouan.
Literatur: Ken Jacobson. Odalisques and Arabesques: Orientalist Photography 1839-1925. London: Quaritch, 2007, see pp. 210-212.
Reclining Nude. Circa 1855. Albumen print, mounted to board. 19,9 x 14,7 cm (mount 21,3 x 16 cm). With the number “146” etched into the negative in the lower margin.
Auguste Belloc, initially trained as a painter of miniatures and watercolors, turned to photography in the early 1850s, where he distinguished himself in daguerreotype practice and contributed to early experiments in color stereoscopy. He later became known for his carefully staged nude studies, which combine academic tradition with photographic precision. His work is now held in major public collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Musée d’Orsay, and the Museum of Fine Arts Boston.
Female nude. 1850s. Albumen print. 20,2 x 14,8 cm. With number "187" etched into the negative in the lower margin.
Bisson frères
View of the Mer de Glace glacier, Mont Blanc massif
Los 4021
Schätzung
1.200€ (US$ 1,364)
View of the Mer de Glace glacier, Mont Blanc massif. 1860. Large-format albumen print, mounted to card. 23,4 x 39,5 cm (mount 40,6 x 55,5 cm). With the photographers' studio stamp in red ink below the image on the mount.
This photograph belongs to the celebrated Alpine campaign undertaken by Bisson Frères in the late 1850s and early 1860s, among the earliest sustained efforts to photograph the high Alps at extreme altitude. Depicting the Mer de Glace glacier framed by the jagged peaks of the Mont Blanc massif, the image emphasizes the vast scale and geological drama of the glacial landscape. Characteristic of the Bissons’ work, it combines topographical precision with a Romantic sensibility, playing a key role in establishing mountain photography as both scientific record and aesthetic expression.
Panorama von München. 1858. 11 albumen prints, mounted to linen-backed cards as a leporello. Each ca. 34 x 40 cm (overall ca. 34 x 440 cm). The middle 3 prints with “Panorama der K. Haupt- und Residenz-Stadt München. Aufgenommen in der Vogelperspective vom Sct. Petersthurme aus, zur Zeit des 700 jährigen Jubilaeums 1858” printed below the image on the mount. Loose in a full-leather folder with embossed decorative ornament and gilt-stamped title “Panorama von München” on the front cover.
This panorama of Munich, composed of eleven large-format albumen prints joined to form a 360-degree view of the city, is among the most technically ambitious photographic achievements of German 19th-century photography. Taken in 1858 from the St. Petersturm, the photographs depict the city in panoramic detail, providing a broad view of Munich. Extending over four meters when fully assembled, the panorama’s scale and the precision of its alignment represent a notable technical achievement of the period.
Only one other example of this panorama is known, preserved at the Stadtmuseum Munich. Its rarity and scale - combined with its technical sophistication - underscore the panorama's significance as a landmark of 19th-century German photographic history.
Böttger, Georg
Early views of Munich: General view with Maximilianstrasse / Siegesthor
Los 4023
Schätzung
750€ (US$ 852)
Early views of Munich: General view with Maximilianstrasse / Siegesthor. 1850s. 2 albumen prints, mounted to board. 15 x 22,5 cm and 20,3 x 16 cm. Each with photographer's name and title printed below/above image on the mount.
Georg Böttger's attractive views of German cities such as Munich, Regensburg and Nuremberg as well as German monuments are among the rare examples of early German 19th century photography.
Kalmouks (from the series “Collection Anthropologique du Prince Roland Bonaparte”). 1883. 19 albumen prints, mounted to board. Each between ca. 14,5 x 9,8 and 11,5 x 17,5 cm or reverse (mounts ca. 24 x 18 cm or reverse). Each mount with number stamp and numbered in black ink in the upper left corner; “Collection Prince Roland Bonaparte” blindstamp embossed in the lower right corner of the mount, and the series title stamped below the image on the mount. Presented in original blue portfolio with decorative framing and gilt-embossed title, together with a loose table of contents.
Roland Bonaparte assembled the Collection Anthropologique du Prince Roland Bonaparte in the late 1880s as part of a large-scale project to systematically photograph ethnic groups from around the world. Produced in collaboration with scientific institutions such as the Société d’Anthropologie de Paris, the series follows contemporary anthropometric conventions, presenting subjects in standardized frontal and profile poses against neutral backgrounds, often with stamped identifiers. Although depicting non-European populations, many photographs were taken in Europe in the context of ethnographic exhibitions rather than in the subjects’ places of origin. The present group focuses on members of the Kalmyk (Oirat Mongol) population of southern Russia, emphasizing physiognomy, dress, and bodily typologies in line with the classificatory aims of late 19th-century anthropology.
Hindous (from the series “Collection Anthropologique du Prince Roland Bonaparte”). 1883. 9 albumen prints, mounted to board. Each between ca. 14,8 x 9,8 and 20 x 14,4 cm (mounts ca. 31,5 x 40,8 cm). Each mount with number stamp and numbered in black ink in the upper right corner; the series title stamped below the image on the mount. Presented in original green portfolio with decorative framing and gilt-embossed title, together with a loose table of contents.
This series records named individuals identified as Hindu domestic servants, with each sitter listed by age and occupation in the accompanying table of contents.
Hottentots (from the series “Collection Anthropologique du Prince Roland Bonaparte”). 1883. 30 albumen prints, mounted to board. Each between ca. 19,5 x 9,5 and 23 x 17,5 cm or reverse (mounts ca. 31,5 x 41 cm or reverse). Each mount with number stamp in black ink in the upper left corner; “Collection Prince Roland Bonaparte” blindstamp embossed in the lower margin of the mount, and the series title stamped below the image on the mount. Presented in original turquoise portfolio with decorative framing and gilt-embossed title.
The photographs in this series depict men and women labeled “Hottentots,” a now-obsolete and derogatory term historically applied to Khoikhoi and related Khoisan-speaking peoples of southern Africa. Presented in standardized frontal, profile, and rear views, the images follow contemporary anthropometric conventions and reflect the racialized classificatory frameworks through which human bodies were recorded and interpreted in late 19th-century European anthropology.
Flower study. Ca. 1855. Varnished salted paper print, mounted to card. 37 x 44,5 cm (mount 45 x 54,5 cm).
Originally trained as a textile designer, Adolphe Braun turned to photography in 1853, initially producing detailed studies of flowers for his publication Fleurs photographiées, conceived as source material for wallpaper and fabric designs. The project was an immediate success, earning Braun a medal at the 1855 Exposition Universelle in Paris, and an album of the photographs was presented to Empress Eugénie. By the early 1860s, Braun had expanded his practice to include topographical views throughout Europe and, soon after, large-scale photographic reproductions of works of art, establishing his firm as one of the most important and prolific photographic publishing enterprises of the 19th century.
Magnolia. Ca. 1855. Varnished salted paper print, mounted to card. 28 x 22,8 cm (mount 38,4 x 29,4 cm). Framed under glass in wooden frame.
View of the Alcázar, Sevilla. Circa 1890. Mammoth-plate carbon print. 38 x 48 cm.
Following the death of Adolphe Braun in 1877, the firm of Braun et Cie developed into one of Europe’s leading art-photography publishers, working closely with major institutions to document paintings, sculpture, and architecture. Its photographs were produced in standardized formats for use in museum catalogues, educational albums, and scholarly study, significantly broadening access to works of art. Renowned for the exceptional quality and stability of its carbon prints, the firm also issued stereoscopic and panoramic views, reflecting a highly systematic and technically advanced approach to photographic production and distribution.
View of the Parthenon. Circa 1890. Mammoth-plate carbon print. 38 x 48 cm.
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© 2026 Galerie Gerda Bassenge
Galerie Bassenge
Erdener Str. 5A
14193 Berlin
Öffnungszeiten:
Montag bis Donnerstag, 10–18 Uhr,
Freitag, 10–16 Uhr
Telefon: +49 30 8938029-0
Fax: +49 30 8918025
E-Mail: info (at) bassenge.com
Impressum
Datenschutzerklärung
© 2026 Galerie Gerda Bassenge