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Urinoir à 3 Stalles (Chaussée du Maine) (Urinal with Three Stalls, chaussée du Maine)

1875–1876
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 691
On loan to The Met
This work of art is currently on loan to the museum.
Sometimes called vespasiennes (after the first-century Roman emperor Vespasian, who generated revenue through the public latrine system), the first public urinals were installed in Paris in 1834. Their numbers multiplied greatly during the Second Empire, owing to Haussmann’s near obsession with sanitation. Varying in design from basic shells to ornately decorated structures, the vespasiennes (only one of which remains) frequently boasted advertising columns and were sometimes topped by a lamp.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Urinoir à 3 Stalles (Chaussée du Maine) (Urinal with Three Stalls, chaussée du Maine)
  • Artist: Charles Marville (French, Paris 1813–1879 Paris)
  • Date: 1875–1876
  • Medium: Albumen silver print from glass negative
  • Dimensions: image: 26.5 × 34.5 cm (10 7/16 × 13 5/8 in.)
  • Classification: Photographs
  • Credit Line: Musée Carnavalet, Paris
  • Curatorial Department: Photographs