Elisa Parent; Mlle Laurent
1850s–60s
Medium
Albumen silver print from glass negative
Dimensions
Image: 7 3/8 × 9 1/4 in. (18.8 × 23.5 cm) Album page: 10 3/8 × 13 3/4 in. (26.3 × 35 cm)
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gilman Collection, Gift of The Howard Gilman Foundation, 2005
Accession Number
2005.100.588.1.21
Art Historical Context
In the mid-19th century, photographer André-Adolpheugène Disdéri captured the poised elegance of subjects like Elisa Parent and M. Laurent in this striking albumen silver print from glass negative, dating to the 1850s–60s. Mounted on a generous album page (10 3/8 × 13 3/4 in.), the image measures 7 3/8 × 9 1/4 in., showcasing the crisp detail and subtle tonal range made possible by the albumen process—egg whites coated on paper to create a glossy surface that held light-sensitive silver salts for rich, luminous portraits. Disdéri revolutionized photography with his invention of the carte de v...
About the Artist
André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri · 1819–1889
**André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri** (1819–1889) was a pioneering French photographer whose innovations transformed portraiture into a mass medium during the Second Empire. Born on March 28, 1819, in Paris, Disdéri pursued diverse careers in commerce, acting, and politics early on, while studying art amid personal hardships following his father's death, which compelled him to support his mother, sibli...