Dominique de Font-Réaulx Examines Photography's Dialogue with Painting (1839-1914)

In 'Peinture et Photographie. Les enjeux d'une rencontre, 1839-1914', published by Flammarion, Louvre chief curator Dominique de Font-Réaulx explores the intertwined histories of painting and photography from 1839 to 1914. The book avoids pitting one art against the other, instead analyzing how photography emerged in relation to painting. Through motifs such as landscape, portrait, nude, and still life, it examines techniques, supports, production conditions, and reception. Notable examples include Delacroix's 1829 painting 'The Assassination of the Bishop of Liège' and a daguerreotype of the painter by Léon Riesener in 1842. A chapter on 'Peintres photographes' highlights artists who practiced both media, such as Francesco Paolo Michetti's 1900 photograph 'Baigneuses sortant de l'eau' and Édouard Vuillard's nude photograph of Ker-Xavier Roussel, rue Truffaut. The book offers a nuanced perspective on how the two arts attract and interweave.