Vintage bondage cyanotypes from 19th c. France

Charles François Jeandel (1859 - 1942) was a honourable member of the Archeological Society of Charente. With his wife Madeleine, he seemed to have a quiet life in the countryside. Or not. Charles and Madeleine didn’t have any children. It’s a miracle that this album didn’t get lost or end up in the hands of a private connaisseur. Today, the collection belongs to the Musée d’Orsay. The blue cyanotyped pictures give a touch of morbid mystery to these very special scènes de campagne: no one will ever know who’s really dominating / dominated. Notice the solid wooden frame on a lot of the pictures: as in japanese kinbaku, the erotic fantasy has something to do with penal punishment.