Paris plaque marks estimated site of Daguerre's subjects
A bronze plaque in Paris marks the reconstructed position of two people photographed by Louis Daguerre in 1838, following research by three filmmakers. The team used archival material and digital modelling to locate the scene within today's Place de la République.
- A Paris plaque marks the reconstructed position of two figures in Daguerre's 1838 Boulevard du Temple photograph.
- Filmmakers combined a modern 3D scan with historical images and maps to reconstruct the neighbourhood.
- Two independent architectural assessments differed by about 1.8 metres; the marker was placed between their proposed locations.
Maximilien Van Aertryck, Axel Danielson and Kalle Boman began by creating a 3D scan of the square and Boulevard du Temple to measure distances between buildings. They reconstructed the neighbourhood as it appeared in 1838 using paintings, prints, engravings and maps from Parisian archives. Two architectural firms assessed the material independently and proposed positions approximately 1.8 metres apart. The filmmakers chose the midpoint for the plaque.
Daguerre's View of the Boulevard du Temple shows two small figures, interpreted as a shoeshiner and a customer, beside an otherwise apparently empty street. The exposure lasted between five and ten minutes, according to the report. People moving through the scene did not remain in place long enough to register clearly, while the stationary pair appeared in the image. The long exposure explains why the photograph gives little sense of the boulevard's other activity.
The filmmakers had included the image in And the King Said, What a Fantastic Machine, their 2023 documentary about the history of image culture. A visit to Place de la République in 2024 prompted their investigation into where the figures had stood. Daguerre took the photograph from an upstairs studio window; his studio and adjoining theatre occupied a site on what is now Rue Léon-Jouhaux. Later changes to the surrounding streets complicated comparison with the modern city.
The surviving photographic evidence adds another limitation. According to Artnet News, the view is chiefly known through a copy made by Museum of Modern Art curator Beaumont Newhall in 1937. Daguerre sent the original plate to Bavaria's King Ludwig I in 1839, and the report says it was badly damaged during the Second World War. The reconstruction identifies an estimated position within the modern square; the account supplies no names for the two photographed people.