Eugène Durieu (French, 1800-1874) Nude, circa 1860 Albumen print 4 x 5-3/8 inches (10.2 x 13.6 cm) (image/sheet) Inscribed 3937 in the negative. The Collection of Hal Gould, Camera Obscura Gallery, Denver. A lawyer and general director of the Administration des Cultes in 1848, Eugène Durieu began to make daguerreotypes in the 1840s. In 1845, he assisted Baron Gros in making astronomical daguerreotypes. As a member of the Commission des Monuments Historiques, Durieu was instrumental in organizing the mission héliographiques that hired the photographers Edouard Baldus, Charles Marville, Gustave Le Gray, Henri Le Secq, and others to document historic architecture in France. Following his retirement in 1850, Durieu collaborated with the painter Eugène Delacroix on a series of nude studies, which the painter called "palpable demonstrations of the free design of nature." Durieu was a founding member of the Société Heliographique in 1851 and the Société Française de Photographie in 1854. (J. Paul Getty Museum) HID12401132022 © 2024 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved www.HA.com/TexasAuctioneerLicenseNotice