The subject of this book, the first to be devoted to a single photograph, is Camille Silvy’s remarkable River Scene. Hailed as a masterpiece when it was first exhibited in France in 1858, the photograph is accompanied here by newly commissioned color photographs by noted photographer Stephen Shore. In a provocative essay the author discusses the history of the photograph in the context of attitudes of the day toward photography and photographic exhibitions, outlines the influences on Silvy, and examines his eventual influence on others.

This is the third book in the Getty Museum Studies on Art (GMSA) series which seeks to introduce individual works of note or small groups of closely related works to a broad public with an interest in the history of art and related disciplines.

Each monograph features a close discussion of its subject as well as a detailed analysis of the broader context in which the work was created, considering relevant historical, cultural, chronological, and other questions.

• Foreword Weston J. Naef
• Debut: Edinburgh and London
• Paris
• Nogent-le Rotrou and La Croix-du-Perche
• Paris—London—La Croix-du-Perche
• Reflections
• Notes
• Selected Bibliography
• Acknowledgments