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An original 6.5x9" antique photo from a stunning and extensive collection of rare WW1 press photos that we acquired from an estate collection in London from a major sale house. It is an original silver gelatin photo. Professionally packaged in a rigid mailer for safe delivery.
Photo Overview
The image shows the richly ornamented Gothic town hall (Stadhuis) on the market square in Oudenaarde, Belgium, photographed during the First World War period with civilians and a horse cart in the cobbled square. The perspective emphasizes the elaborate spires, tracery, and arcaded ground floor of the 16th century Renaissance-Gothic facade, and the caption notes that the small Belgian town of Oudenaarde was spared from wartime destruction.
Oudenaarde lies in the Flanders region, an area that saw intense WW1 fighting and heavy devastation in nearby cities like Ypres, yet its famous town hall survived bombardment intact and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of the Belfries of Belgium and France. Wartime images celebrating undamaged civic monuments were widely used in Allied propaganda to contrast destruction elsewhere, making surviving large-format press prints like this historically desirable for collectors of Flanders and Western Front material. Add this scarce original to your collection today before another serious WW1 architecture collector does.
Print analysis:
Sepia-toned gelatin silver print on period fiber paper with a printed Dutch caption on the front margin and no modern barcodes or glossy resin coating, typical of European WW1-era press and souvenir photographs. The subject and wording of the caption indicate it was issued during or immediately after WW1, likely c1916-1919, from an original negative. The blank reverse without postcard divisions suggests a photographic print rather than a postcard. Based on age, surface, and estate provenance, this is best classified as an original Type 1 press/souvenir photo printed within a few years of exposure, likely c1910s.
Condition: Photo is in fair to good condition. Please check photos for the most accurate condition. The back of the photo may have remnants from having been attached to an album page.
