Details
This framed presentation, titled Laos — Halte d’un Convoi (“Laos – Halt of a Convoy”), demonstrates the enlargement quality obtainable from the small negatives of Jules Richard’s Vérascope. The photograph shows a convoy pausing beside a river, with boats gathered along the bank and several figures among them.
Both images mounted in the frame are actual photographic prints. The large photograph is an enlargement of a single half of a stereoscopic image taken with a Vérascope. Directly beneath it is a small positive print in the original image size of 4.5x4.5 cm. By presenting the small photograph together with its much larger enlargement, the display allows the quality and fine detail of the Vérascope negative to be judged immediately. The presentation is completed by the handwritten title above and the prominent inscription Vérascope Richard at lower right.
The photograph itself probably belonged to the extensive range of stereoscopic views offered by Richard, which included subjects from many parts of the world. Here, however, one half of the stereoscopic image has been deliberately removed from its usual viewing context and used to demonstrate the photographic potential of the Vérascope negative itself.
Historical Context
This presentation was probably produced by or for Jules Richard as a demonstration or exhibition piece. A particularly close contemporary parallel appears in the May 1899 issue of La Revue artistique, littéraire et industrielle. An article entitled La Décoration Moderne describes and illustrates Jules Richard’s newly fitted Paris premises devoted to the Vérascope. The interior is explicitly identified as the magasin Jules Richard, while both the name Richard and the Vérascope formed prominent elements of the shop’s decoration.
Most significantly, the same article describes the upper part of the premises as being decorated with “merveilleux agrandissements” made from Vérascope negatives. It concludes by referring to the installation as one Jules Richard had specifically arranged for his Vérascopes. The combination seen here — an actual photographic enlargement, the small original-format print and the conspicuous Vérascope Richard inscription — corresponds remarkably well with this documented form of presentation.
Such enlargements were not confined to Richard’s Paris showroom. The official report of the 1906 International Exhibition in Milan lists Jules Richard as exhibiting “Agrandissements et vues obtenues avec le Vérascope” — enlargements and views made with the Vérascope. Enlarged Vérascope photographs were therefore part of Richard’s wider promotional strategy and were also used at international exhibitions to demonstrate the capabilities of the small-format camera.
The exact original location of this particular example cannot be established. It may have formed part of Richard’s Paris display, an international exhibition, or another presentation arranged by the company. Its construction and contemporary documentation nevertheless strongly suggest that it was an official Vérascope demonstration piece rather than simply a later enlargement of a stereoscopic photograph.
