This website presents our knowledge and research on this important aspect of the Royal Collection. As of April 2026 it will not be regularly updated and new research on this topic will sit within the main website.

Landscape, Nature and Architecture

Technological improvements enabled Prince Albert to collect photographs of places that were significant to him

AIMÉ CIVIALE (1821-93)

Une scierie dans le Val Véni 

1859-68

Poitevin process | 26.6 x 35.8 cm (image) | RCIN 2370843

Photograph of a waterfall cascading over large boulders in Val Veny near the Franco-Italian borders. The water brushes by a derelict stone sawmill that dominates the left half of the frame. Fir trees populate both the right middleground and background.

  • Creator(s)

    Aimé Civiale (1821-93) (artist)

  • 26.6 x 35.8 cm (image)

  • Acquired by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert

  • Subject(s)
    • Arts, Recreation, Entertainment & Sport
      • Architecture
        • Secular architecture
          • Factories
            • Mills
              • Sawmills
    • Geography
      • Physiography
        • Waterfalls
        • Mountains
    • Natural Sciences & Mathematics
      • Botany
        • Systematic botany
          • Trees
            • Firs
    Object type(s)
      • visual works
        • albums
          • photograph albums