[Chair and Watering Can in a Garden]

about 1843–1847

Medium

Salted paper print from a Calotype negative

Dimensions

16.5 × 12.7 cm

Status

In Museum Collection

Collect24 Art ID

C24-806546

Hippolyte Bayard frequently photographed himself and others in garden settings. This was, in part, a practical decision since natural light was required to make photographs at the time. However, his choice of setting also reflects his passion for plants. He came from a family of gardeners—his maternal grandfather worked in the extensive grounds of the abbey in Breteuil, the village where Bayard grew up. His father, a justice of the peace, was a passionate amateur gardener who grew peaches in an orchard attached to the family home. The garden(s) featured in Bayard’s self-portraits may indeed be part of the family property in Breteuil or his own home in Batignolles—an area that was just on the outskirts of Paris. This image of a garden scene is part of an album that Bayard compiled in the 1840s and is now owned by the Getty Museum. One of his self-portraits can be found on a separate page in the same album (see [84.XO.968.20](https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/101944/hippolyte-bayard-self-portrait-in-garden-french-about-1845-1849/)). The only differences in the two compositions are that this image is taken from a slightly more distant view with an additional pot and water…