Boulevard du Temple (photograph)

The Boulevard du Temple is a wide Parisian thoroughfare defined by its history as the site of Louis Daguerre's famous eighteen thirty-eight daguerreotype. This early photograph, captured from a window in his studio, shows a street that appears empty despite having been a busy city center. The exposure time required for the process lasted several minutes, meaning that the constant motion of carriages and pedestrians left no impression on the silver-plated copper.