Hôtel Scipion Sardini, R[ue] Scipion

Leafless black trees and sunlit white snow strikingly contrast with the muted gray tones of a brick and stone building in this wintry photograph. Although Eugène Atget made his photographs early in the morning when the sun was strong, the season's dim light resulted in this atmospheric portrait.

Atget intended his photographs to be used as source material for artists, such as the noteworthy painter Maurice Utrillo, who favored orderly architectural subjects. Utrillo modeled a 1926 painting on this image, altering the season to spring and adding a few spindly shrubs and several figures.