A stereoview showing a canal or moat in Strasbourg lined by a stone quay, with a row of shattered buildings and a ruined tower visible along the far bank. In the foreground a flat-bottomed barge is moored at the water's edge, and a wooden dredging or pile-driving apparatus with gears and pulleys occupies the lower portion of the composition. The albumen prints are mounted on a red card with a printed studio credit at left and a printed label reading 'STRASSBOURG 1870' at right, with the number '394' and the title 'Steinstrasse' inscribed in red ink along the lower margin.
The mount is printed 'T. RICHARD, PHOTOGR.: MAENEDORE, ZURICHSEE,' identifying the Swiss-based photographic studio of Traugott Richard as publisher of this view; the accompanying red-ink caption identifying the subject as the Steinstrasse (the Faubourg de Pierre) situates the image among the documentary series depicting the ruined city following the 1870 siege during the Franco-Prussian War.
Photographer/publisher: T. Richard (Traugott Richard), Maenedorf
Period/date: 1870
Dimensions: 175 x 85 mm
Condition: Good; the red mount shows overall surface toning and scattered light foxing, with a small area of wear at the upper edge and mild corner bumping. The albumen prints exhibit slight fading and a soft, low-contrast appearance, more pronounced in the right-hand image, consistent with the period. The mount remains structurally stable with no separation between layers.
Reverse: No verso scan available.
Keywords: Strasbourg, Franco-Prussian War, siege ruins, stereoview, Richard
Photographer Biography:
Traugott Richard operated a photographic studio in Maenedorf, in the Canton of Zurich, Switzerland, active during the 1860s and 1870s.
His photographs are generally credited as T. Richard, and later as T. Richard & Sohn.
He produced work on cartes-de-visite, cabinet cards, stereographs, and albumen prints.
His best-documented output consists of hand-colored ethnographic studies of Swiss regional costume; this stereoview of war-damaged Strasbourg represents a departure into contemporary documentary subject matter.
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