Charles Marville had already established a successful career as an illustrator before taking up photography in the 1850s. He showed an immediate and intuitive talent for the medium, producing photographs for the publications of Blanquart-Evrard while also creating several innovative photographic devices and printing techniques. Working initially with paper-negatives, Marville found his true medium in the wet-plate process. He exploited the visually precise qualities of glass negatives in his documentation of the city of Paris that began in 1858. Using a camera that could accommodate large plates, Marville worked throughout the 1850s, ‘60s, and ‘70s, creating a rich and unprecedented chronicle of old Paris.

Museum of Modern Art curator John Szarkowski included five of Marville’s photographs in his landmark 1989 exhibition Photography Until Now, calling him, in the accompanying catalogue, “one of the greatest of all photographers” (p. 92).