Le Figaro Lyon
To date, it is the oldest known photograph of Lyon. Produced with one of the first photographic processes, it shows in the foreground a bridge that has disappeared for a century and a half. So many superlatives for the same object are bound to have a price. The daguerreotype of the artist Richard Félix, immortalized around 1840, was estimated at between 8000,12 and 000,8 euros by the Parisian auction house Oger-Blanchet. The image, admirably preserved according to the seller, and which has remained in the artist's family until now, will be auctioned on November <>.
The term daguerreotype comes from the name of Louis Daguerre, who had developed a process consisting of fixing the image obtained in the camera on a copper plate. Richard Félix's is in "very good condition despite a few scratches," the auction house said. A recent cleaning was carried out by a specialist restorer. Of "very good quality", it allows you to "see the architectural details of each building".
This is all the more appreciable given that the Pont du Change that appears in the image was destroyed a century and a half ago, after nearly a millennium of existence. "The old stone bridge was consecrated in 1070 by Archbishop Humbert, built using materials from the Roman era," says the auction house. It had seven arches, including the marvellous arch (on the right on the plaque) surmounted by houses sometimes 3 or 4 storeys high, inhabited by goldsmiths".