[Imperial Prince with Gun]
1865–66
![[Imperial Prince with Gun] by André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri](https://images.artheonmuseum.org/met/ph/thumb/imperial-prince-with-gun-285970.webp)
Medium
Albumen silver print from glass negative
Dimensions
Image: 9 1/4 in. × 6 in. (23.5 × 15.2 cm)
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gilman Collection, Museum Purchase, 2005
Accession Number
2005.100.1320
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the mid-1860s, during the opulent Second French Empire under Napoleon III pioneering photographer André-Adolpheugène Disdéri this striking portrait titled *Imperial Prince with Gun Produced as an albumen silver print from a negative—a technique that yielded richly toned, highly detailed images—this 9¼ × 6-inch photograph exemplifies the era's advancements in portraiture. Disdéri, famed for inventing the carte-de-visite format democratized photography, here elevated the medium to showcase imperial grandeur. The image depicts a young prince, likely a member of the Bonaparte family, posed con...
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...