Gabrielle; M. Gutierrez de Estrada
Medium
Albumen silver print from glass negative
Dimensions
Image: 7 9/16 × 9 1/4 in. (19.2 × 23.5 cm) Sheet: 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
2005.100.588.3.10
Tags
Art Historical Context
In 1867, French photographer André-Adolpheugène Disdéri *Gabrielle; M. de Estrada*, a poised portrait exemplifying the refined artistry of mid-19th-century photography. Disdéri, a pioneer in the field, captured this image of a woman—likely named Gabrielle and associated with the figure M. Gutierrez de Estrada—using the albumen silver print process from a glass negative. The medium, which coated paper with egg whites sensitized to silver salts, produced the era's signature warm tones, sharp details, and subtle gradations, making it ideal for intimate portraits that rivaled painted likenesses. ...
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...