Hospital Français à Buenos - Ayres. Circa 1870.

Vintage photograph in "carte-de-visite" (visiting card) format. An albumen print in a sepia tone, it features an old, affixed slip of paper with a handwritten inscription identifying the image. At the bottom of the secondary mount, the photographer’s Parisian address is printed: “Saint-Edme Phot - Esplanade des Invalides, 50.” On the reverse, there is a lithographed advertisement for the studio.

Dimensions: Photograph, 7.5 x 6 cm; mount, 10.3 x 6.1 cm. From the collection of César Gotta.

This is an unusual "carte-de-visite," produced by the prestigious French photographer Edmond Choisy—who operated under the trade name "Saint-Edme"—at 50 Esplanade des Invalides in Paris, his first location in the French capital. The subject matter likely explains his interest in marketing this view of Buenos Aires: it depicts the French Hospital (Hospital Francés) at its former site on Calle Libertad—between Córdoba and Paraguay streets—where it was located from the mid-19th century until 1887.

Abel Alexander

President, Ibero-American Society for the History of Photography