Leaf of the Door of Saint Marcel, Notre Dame Cathedral,

ca. 1854

The Bisson Frères, leading photographers of church architecture in the 1850s, titled this detail study after the statue of Saint Marcel that appears at top right. The image,<br>made in raking sunlight that heightens the texture of materials, was issued in the midst of prolonged renovations to the cathedral. Though Eugène Viollet-le-Duc made many alterations to Notre Dame on the dubious pretext of stylistic authenticity,<br>the serpentine brasswork seen here dates to the thirteenth century. The original sculpture of Saint Marcel, though carved a century earlier than that, suffered damage during the Revolution in 1793 and was replaced with a reconstruction in<br>1818. The original can be seen in the Musée de Cluny.