Calotype by Calvert Richard Jones depicting a street scene in front of the guild houses at La Grand-Place in Brussels. Belgium, ca. 1854.

A row of tall five and six storey houses with Dutch gables lead into a narrow street. On the left is a towered structure circled with narrow balconies on its upper levels. Smaller houses can be glimpsed at the end of the street. All four corners have been cut off the print, which is generally faded with an albuminised surface.

During the 1830s William Henry Fox Talbot invented a way of making paper negatives and from them multiple paper prints. In doing so, he laid the foundations of modern photography. Calvert Jones learned of these developments in 1839 through a neighbour who was a cousin of Talbot. Jones lived in South Wales and he made many photographs there and in the West of England. He also travelled widely, making photographs on the continent. Jones' work stands out in the early development of photography because he was one of the first to apply a schooled artist's eye to the medium.

In 1853, Jones moved to Belgium with his wife and daughter and lived there until the death of his wife in Brussels in 1856. This photograph by Jones shows several of the guild houses which surround the square. The corner of the grandest of the buildings, the City Hall, provides a frame for the left side of the image. Although the 17th century guild houses dominate the frame, the choice of composition is unusual in drawing the viewer down the street between the guild house and the city hall.

La Grande-Place or Grote Markt has been in use as a market since the 15th century and the surrounding buildings, mainly guild houses, date from the 17th century. The square is a vivid reminder of the old commercial and social centre of Brussels and is now a world heritage site.

PH.115-1983