Ornamental Scupture

Texto del museo

Napoleon III commissioned a new opera house that was adorned with lavishly decorated facades and surfaces inside and out, like this sculptural molding that topped doors in the building’s side galleries. Louis-Émile Durandelle photographed it while still in the workshop; he blacked out the background in the negative. 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. Louis-Émile Durandelle photographed this sculptural ornament for the new Paris opera house while still in the workshop; he blacked out the background in the negative.

Descripción original del museo, en inglés. Licencia: CC0