On loan to The Met The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
The Arch of Janus
Pierre-Ambrose Richebourg French
Not on view
The weathered facade and architectural geometry of the four-sided Arch of Janus dominates this daguerreotype of ancient structures in the Forum Boarium. The two figures seated at the base of the central arch lend scale to the monument, a visual device adopted from earlier printed tourist views. Originally an optician, Richebourg sold this daguerreotype from his Paris shop. Although he was among the first professional photographers in the world—he trained under the daguerreotype’s inventor, Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre—by the time he traveled to Rome, about 1844, a number of local and foreign photographers were already active in the city.
