Charles Nègre
Charles Nègre (lang; 9 May 1820 – 16 January 1880) was a pioneering photographer, born in Grasse, France. His "Chimney-Sweeps Walking", an albumen print taken on the Quai Bourbon in 1851, may have been a staged study for a painting, but is nevertheless considered important to photographic history for its being an early instance of an interest in capturing movement and freezing it forever in one moment. Having been passed over for the Missions Héliographiques which commissioned many of his peers, Nègre independently embarked on his own remarkably extensive study of the Midi region.
Also recorded as Charles Negre
Charles Nègre

Charles Nègre · Public domain
- Born
- 1820.
- Died
- 1880.
- Nationality
- France.
- Occupation
- painter and photographer.
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Charles Nègre (lang; 9 May 1820 – 16 January 1880) was a pioneering photographer, born in Grasse, France. His "Chimney-Sweeps Walking", an albumen print taken on the Quai Bourbon in 1851, may have been a staged study for a painting, but is nevertheless considered important to photographic history for its being an early instance of an interest in capturing movement and freezing it forever in one moment. Having been passed over for the Missions Héliographiques which commissioned many of his peers, Nègre independently embarked on his own remarkably extensive study of the Midi region.
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In this article
Biography
Biography
The interesting shapes in his 1852 photograph of buildings in Grasse have caused it to be seen as a precursor to art photography. In 1859, he was commissioned by Empress Eugénie to photograph the newly established Imperial Asylum in the Bois de Vincennes, a hospital for disabled workingmen. He used both albumen and salt print, and was known also as a skilled printer of photographs, using a gravure method of his own development. A plan commissioned by Napoleon III to print photographs of sculpture never came to fruition, and in 1861 Nègre retired to Nice, where he made views and portraits for holiday makers. He died in Grasse in 1880.

The Refectory of the Imperial Asylum at Vincennes, 1858–59, by Charles Nègre
Charles Nègre · The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York · Gift of Hans P. Kraus Jr. and Mariana Cook, in honor of André and Marie-Thérèse Jammes, 1998

Spartan Soldier, 1859, by Charles Nègre
Charles Nègre · The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York · Gilman Collection, Purchase, Harriette and Noel Levine Gift, 2005
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1820
Charles Nègre was born in 1820.
1880
Charles Nègre died at Grasse.
Literature
Literature
Literature
Nègre, Charles, Oxford Art Online, 2003
Nègre, Charles, Benezit Dictionary of Artists, 2011
Der Zauberer von Grasse, Charles Nègre, 2014
Die ›mise en abyme‹ des Charles Nègre, Charles Nègre, 2014
Francis Wey, Charles Nègre und die Theorie des Porträts, Charles Nègre, 2014
Scholarly footprint
Literature
Scholarly footprint
A count of publications is evidence of attention, not of standing, and is given here only as a measure.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Dictionnaire des peintres et sculpteurs de Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Jeanne Laffitte. 2006. 978-2-86276-441-2.
- 2.Base Joconde M0315000686 Cathédrale de Chartres, porche méridional
- 3.Base Joconde M0315000685 Cathédrale de Chartres, façade occidentale, porte latérale
- 4.« Charles Nègre, Paris, scène de marché », notice sur le site du musée d'Orsay.
- 5.Chapitre langue=fr auteur1=Elvire Perego titre chapitre=Nègre Charles (1820-1880) titre ouvrage=Encyclopedia Universalis date=consulté le 20 avril 2023 lire en ligne=http://www.universalis-edu.com/encyclopedie/charles-negre/ .
- 6.Charles Nègre. Ramoneurs en marche. Musée des beaux-arts du Canada.
- 7.Naomi Rosenblum titre. Éditions Abbeville. 1998.
- 8.Henri Le Secq posant sur Notre-Dame de Paris. Le choix d’avoir nommé cette photographie Le Stryge revient au collectionneur André Jammes ; voir la notice de l’œuvre sur le site du musée d’Orsay.
- 9.Théâtre de la Photographie et de l’Image - Photographies de Nice et de ses environs (1863-1866), consulté le 17 mai 2008.
- 10.Théâtre de la Photographie et de l’Image - Notice biographique, consulté le 13 mai 2013.
- 11.GRASSE (06) : cimetière Sainte-Brigitte. Cimetières de France et d'ailleurs.
- 12.Michel Guerrin. Le fonds Charles Nègre en voie de dispersion. Le Monde. 16 mars 2022 lire en.
- 13.Le Stryge - Charles Nègre Musée d'Orsay. www.musee-orsay.fr.
- 14.L’architecture miraculeuse de la médiathèque Charles-Nègre, à Grasse. Le Monde.fr. 2023-09-14. 2023-09-15.
- 15.La Médiathèque Charles Nègre. Médiathèque de Grasse.
Bibliography printed in the source article · 7
- Charles Nègre : un artiste protéiforme. Les fonds de la ville de Grasse. Éditions Faton. 2020. 978-2-87844-292-2.
- André Jammes, Charles Nègre photographe : 1820-1880, préface de Jean Adhémar, Paris-Choisy-le-Roi, Imprimerie de France, 1963
- Charles Nègre : photographe 1820-1880. Réunion des musées nationaux. 1980. 2-71180-164-0.
- Alain Lefeuvre. Nice 1863-1900 : de Charles Nègre à Jean Giletta. Théâtre de la photographie et de l'image. 2000. 2-903574-49-9.
- Joseph Nègre, La Riviera de Charles Nègre, préface de Louis Nucéra, Aix-en-Provence, Édisud, 1991
- Jean-Paul Potron, « Charles Nègre et les Alpes-Maritimes, regards d'un pionnier de la photographie sur sa terre natale », dans Nice historique, 2010, , (Lire en ligne).
- Charles Nègre : la révolution photographique. Éditions Campanile. 2021. 978-2-36993-065-5.
References
Citations
References
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reference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q1065673: Charles NègreWikimedia Foundation
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Secondary witness
Further particulars
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Further particulars
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Charles Nègre studied at Beaux-Arts de Paris. He trained under Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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