The Cleveland Museum of Art
Opéra (Rostral Column)
Description
In the 1800s, gas lamps replaced the oil lights. When Napoleon III commissioned a new opera house in Paris in 1860, it was surrounded by a “Ring of Light,” including this column with three gas streetlights. The opera house became the setting for Gaston LeRoux’s 1910 novel The Phantom of the Opera, which inspired the 1976 musical and 2004 film.
Provenance
Roxane Debuisson [1927–2018], purchased from a bookseller as part of an album, Paris, France; Collection Debuisson, Paris, France; (Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Dimensions
37.7 × 26.7 cm
Movement / Period
Accession No
2006.6
Official Citations
Curatorial Affinity Stream
Continuing the Universe of Charles Marville (French, 1813–1879)
Photography • France, 19th century • Harmonious Works & Contemporaries
Continuous Discovery