Elise Parent (opéra) 1863
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
2005.100.588.1.19
Art Historical Context
In 1863, pioneering French photographer André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri captured *Elise Parent (opéra)*, a portrait of the celebrated opera singer Elise Parent. Disdéri, best known for inventing the carte de visite—a small, affordable photographic calling card—revolutionized portraiture during the Second Empire era. This albumen silver print, mounted on a larger album page, showcases Parent in elegant operatic attire, embodying the glamour of Paris's vibrant theater scene where stars like her enthralled audiences at venues such as the Opéra Garnier. The, an albumen silver print from a glass nega...
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...