Elise Parent; Corinne

Art Historical Context

In 1861, French photographer André-Adolpheugène Disdéri *Elise Parent; Corinne* using the albumen silver print from a glass negative, hallmark of mid-19th-century photography. This intimate double portrait, measuring 7 3/8 × 9 1/4 inches, showcases two figures—likely mother and daughter—posed with elegant poise against a neutral backdrop. Mounted on a larger album page, it reflects the era's growing fascination with photography as a personal and collectible art form. Disdéri, a pioneer in commercial portraiture, revolutionized the medium by inventing the carte de visite format in 1854—a small, affordable card-sized photo that swept Europe like trading cards. Though slightly larger here, this print embodies that legacy, with albumen's glossy sheen and warm tones derived from egg-white emulsion, which adhered light-sensitive silver salts for sharp detail and subtle gradations. By the 1860s, such images filled albums in bourgeois homes, democratizing portraiture amid France's Second Empire prosperity. Housed in The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Gilman Collection, this work highlights photography's shift from novelty to cultural staple, preserving everyday elegance and familial bonds for posterity. Visitors will appreciate its technical finesse and the window it offers into Victorian-era self-presentation.

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...