Constituted for educational purposes, the collection includes more than 70,000 prints and glass plates, most dating from the period 1850–1914. Architecture, monumental views, and reproductions of art dominate this encyclopedic collection, with a focus on France, Italy, Greece, the Mediterranean Basin, and Asia. All the greatest names of 19th-cenury photography are represented: Atget, Alinari, Baldus, Bonfils, Caneva, Durandelle, Marville, and the printed photographic books by Maxime Du Camp, Félix Teynard, and more. Coming from the departments of morphology and anatomy where they served as examples for the professors, the ovals of Duchenne de Boulogne and the chronophotographs of Albert Londe and of Professor Paul Richer, form an exceptional collection of medical and scientific photography. The collection is regularly enhanced by donations of photographs, from former students and professor and guest artists, such Gilles Gerbaud, Leslie Hamilton, Patrick Tosani, Valérie Sonnier, Bogdan Konopka, and Gonzalès-Day.
Charles Nègre, Modèle allongé, Print on salted paper from a negative on paper, 12,8 x 17,4 cm