Fête du Trône

The carousel is in the exact center of the image; an equal amount of sky and ground surrounds it. Like many of the figures who were captured in Eugène Atget's photographs, the bow-tied bunny at the right appears to be eyeing the photographer cautiously and curiously as Atget goes about recording him. The pleasure spectacle of the carnival ride is made ordinary by the ladder visible at the right toward the back of the ride. Carnivals were usually traveling shows, stopping for only a short while before moving on to the next town, and this attraction was probably still being assembled when Atget came upon it and set his tripod down.

The two small, half-oval marks along the top of the print come from the clips that held the glass negative plate in place in the back of the camera. They appear in many of Atget's prints and serve as a kind of trademark, even though they may look like a mistake.