1454
not well-known. His body of work is for the moment only
partially identifi ed: portraits of the family of Orleans went
on public sale in 2000, and especially scenes of Spain
(Seville, Grenade) and of the Pyrenees, preserved at the
SFP, the BNF, the Museum of Orsay (this last preserves
the album of the Pyrenees, and the views captured in
the Brébisson album). Because of his participation in
two London Exhibitions, Vigier was apparently better
known by the English public. It may be also that he met
English amateurs at the time of his stay in the Pyrenees.
His affi nities with England are perhaps at the origin of
his interest for Talbot’s calotype process, which he used
in alternation with the process of Le Gray (waxed paper).
He considered the two techniques complementary, fi nding
it easier to use Talbot’s in particular for the impression,
whereas that of Le Gray’s, which gave more defi nition,
of transparency in the shades, of truth in returned space.
He sought to improve the processes on paper and com-
municated with the SFP on this subject in 1856. Vigier
used the collapsible darkroom of Koch and resorted, for
his printings, to the photographic printing works of H.
Fonteny, directed by Alexandre Lachevardière, in Paris,
principal rival of the printing works of Blanquart-Evrard.
He signed his tests with a dry seal with his monogram, JV,
surmounted by a crown. Negative paper agreed well with
the primitive aspects of certain landscapes like arid val-
leys and rocks, and captured the textures of the rock and
stone because of those atmospheric effects. The tones are
warm, of a beautiful colour varying from pink to brown.
His images are often very composed, with sets of lines,
right-hand sides or curves (road, bridge), introducing
a movement, making space and giving to the spectator
the feeling of being in the scene (Sentier du chaos allant
de Gavarnie à Saint-Sauveur). The foreground is often
released (road, river, way) and the background occupied
by a thrust created by a mountain or a church (Bridge of
Slate with Luchon).
With their public appearance, the photos of the Pyr-
enees achieved the unanimous acclaim. With the occa-
sion of the Exhibition of London in February 1854, the
critic Ernest Lacan devoted an article to the album of
the Pyrenees, in which he emphasized the diffi culties
encountered in traversing the various sites; he underlined
the transparency, the strength of the tone of these images
as well. In 1855, Eugene Durieu admired those same
views, and in 1857, Paul Perier remembered their “broad
and severe character.” With the Exhibition of 1857, in
front of a sight of castle in Dauphiné, Perier spoke about
smoothness and frankness from execution: “the light was
so fortunately chosen, that water, of a curious transpar-
ency, has their value everywhere, and is harmonized very
well with all the other parts of the table. The avenue of
trees of the castle of Savigny is not less remarkable; the
foliage is returned perfectly, and the table has much of
depth without presenting the exaggeration of prospect
which often the avenues in photography give.” By the
masterly character of these tests, without anecdote nor
picturesque, Vigier occupies a singular place in the
production of the amateurs of the 1850s.
Helene BocardFurther Reading
Michel Auer et Michèle Auer, Encyclopédie internationale
des photographes de 1839 à nos jours, Hermance, Camera
obscura, 1985.
André Bourgoin, La dynastie Vigier, Savigny-sur-Orge/Lamor-
laye, 1995.
André Jammes et Eugenia Parry-Janis, The Art of french Calotype,
Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1983.VIGNES, LOUIS (1831–1896)
French, active in Morocco, Sicily, Lebanon, and
Palestine 1859–1864, photographer, naval offi cer
Vignes was a distinguished naval offi cer whose photo-
graphic work is limited to his early service in the Medi-
terranean and North Africa. He entered l’Ecole navale
in 1846 and remained in the French Navy, retiring as an
admiral. It is unclear where he learned photography, but
he made over 50 calotypes of sites in Morocco, Sicily,
and Beirut during the Syrian campaigns of 1860. It was
this experience that led to his assignment to the archaeo-
logical expedition mounted by the Duke du Luynes, an
eminent biblical archaeologist with an interest in pho-
tography. The group traveled from Beirut south through
Sidon, Tyre, Nablus, and Jerusalem to the Dead Sea
which they explored by ship from March through May
of 1864. Vignes photographed throughout the journey,
initially with collodion on glass at du Luynes behest.
He returned to the calotype process he had used in
Syria on the return journey, perhaps because the supply
of glass plates had been exhausted. While there is no
complete tally of photographs from this expedition, it
may be estimated at 400. Sixty-four photographs were
published by Charles Negre using his photogravure
process to accompany, Honoré d’Albert, duc de Luynes,
Voyage d’exploration à la mer Morte, à Pétra et sur le
rive gauche du Jourdain, Paris, 1875. In addition there
are a number of albums in public and private collections
that include material not found in the publication—in
addition to archaeological subjects, panoramas, interior
views in French residences, and landscape studies.
Kathleen HoweVIGNOLES, CHARLES BLACKER
(1793–1875)
Charles Blacker Vignoles was born in 1793 at Wood-
brook, Ireland. His parents were Captain Charles Henry