[Giovanni Boldini]

Art Historical Context

This intimate albumen silver print from the 1870s Giovanni Boldini, the celebrated Italian portrait painter, as photographed by the Parisian studio of Walery Frères. a compact 10.2 x 6.3 cm (4 x2½ in.), it exemplifies the carte-de-visite format—small, collectible portraits that swept Europe in the mid-19th century, like calling cards among the elite. Boldini, who rose to fame in Paris for his swirling, dynamic Belle Époque portraits of high society, appears here early in his career, bridging the worlds of painting and emerging photography. The albumen process, using egg whites to bind light-s...