Road to Eaux-Chaudes, Pyrenees (recto); Eaux-Chaudes, Pyrenees (verso)

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Artist: Farnham Maxwell-Lyte (British, 1828–1906)
Medium: Albumen print from wet collodion negative
Size: Image: 28.1 x 21.1 cm (11 1/16 x 8 5/16 in.); Matted: 50.8 x 40.6 cm (20 x 16 in.)
Culture: England, 19th century
Museum: Cleveland Museum of Art
Rights: CC0 — no rights reserved

The town of Pau, in the foothills of the Pyrenees Mountains, was a popular vacation spot for British tourists and one of several centers for photography in France in the 1850s. Farnham Maxwell Lyte photographed the road that ran through the mountains to the village of Eaux-Chaudes. The town, a tourist destination since the late 1500s, had hot springs reputed to have healing waters. The road had just been built in 1849. It greatly eased access to Eaux-Chaudes and offered dramatic views.