1453
Brian Coe, The History of Movie Photography, Westfi eld: East-
view Editions, 1981.
Thomas H Court and Moritz von Rohr, “On Modern Instruments
Both for the Accurate Depicting and the Correct Viewing of
Perspectives or Photographs,” The Photographic Journal, vol.
LXXV (new series LIX), August 1935.
Bernard E Jones (ed.), The Encyclopaedia of Early Photography,
Bishopsgate Press, London, 1981 (originally printed in 1911
under the title, ‘The Encyclopaedia of Photography’).
Laurent Mannoni, Werner Nekes and Marina Warner, Eyes, Lies
and Illusions, Hayward Gallery Publishing/Lund Humphries,
London, 2004.
The Year Book of Photography and Photographic News Alma-
nac, 1875.
VIGIER, LE VICOMTE JOSEPH
(1821–1894)
Louis Jules Achilles Vigier, known as Joseph Vigier,
was Viscount, owner of the castle of Grand-Vaux à
Savigny-sur-Orge. School-fellow of the duke of Aum-
ale at the school Henri IV, he remained connected all
his life to the family of Orleans. In 1872, after having
sold his Grand-Vaux à Savigny-sur-Orge, he acquired
the castle of Lamorlaye, close to Chantilly, where the
duke of Aumale remained and where he could appease
his passion for horses (developed with his training of
thoroughbred racehorses of English origin).
Vigier was introduced to photography in the work-
shop of Gustave le Gray around 1848–1850. He fi rst
stayed in Seville in 1851, in the home of the duke of
Montpensier; it is not known if he took photographs
there. In September 1852, he went to England and
took photographic portraits of the royal family in exile
in Claremont: King Louis-Philippe, the queen Amélie,
their children (duke of Nemours) and grandchildren
posed, each one sitting upright or close to a table, some
in front of a fabric painted with the exuberant decora-
tion of fl owers; the prince of Condé is illustrated on a
horse. In the summer of 1853, he voyaged to Spain while
passing by the Pyrenees (Luchon, Cauterets, Pau), from
which he brought back several hundreds of scenes on
negative paper. At the end of the year, he published the
Album des Pyrénées (Album of the Pyrenees), which
was a collection of about thirty prints. In February 1854,
he showed six of them in London, with the Exhibition
of Photographic Society, which created enthusiasm in
the public and queen Victoria.
Vigier was the founding member of the Société
héligraphique in 1851, then of the Société française de
photographie in 1854 (he remained there until 1862);
he was also member of the board of directors of the
SFP from 1857 to 1862. He took part in the fi rst two
Exhibitions that the Society organized, in 1855 (views
of the Pyrenees) and in 1857 (views of Dauphiné of
1855 on negative paper, a castle of Savigny of 1856
on dry collodion, a horse according to nature on wet
collodion). He also took part in several Exhibitions in
London (in 1852, Society of Arts, and in 1854 in Pho-
tographic Society) and in Brussels in 1856 (views of
the Pyrenees and views of Dauphiné, on negative paper;
portraits, monuments, horse on collodion; monuments
and views of France, England, Spain on albuminous
paper and waxed paper). The birth of a son in 1859, the
management of his grounds, voyages, passion for the
horses, and especially the evolution of the photographic
processes in the years from 1860 diverted him perhaps
defi nitively from his practice.
A major fi gure of the photo hobbyists of the 1850s,
the personality and oeuvre of the Viscomte Vigier are stillVIGIER, LE VICOMTE JOSEPH
Vigier, Vicomte Joseph. Path
to Chaos, Saint-Sauveur.
The Metropolitan Museum
of Art, Gilman Collection,
Gift of The Howard
Gilman Foundation, 2005
(2005.100.503.8) Image ©
The Metropolitan Museum
of Art.