[La Comtesse in robe de piqué or as Judith (?)]
![[La Comtesse in robe de piqué or as Judith (?)] by Pierre-Louis Pierson|Countess Virginia Oldoini Verasis di Castiglione](https://images.artheonmuseum.org/met/ph/thumb/la-comtesse-in-robe-de-piqu-or-as-judith-261374.webp)
Medium
Albumen silver print from glass negative with applied color
Dimensions
12.4 x 8.7 cm (4 7/8 x 3 7/16 in.)
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
David Hunter McAlpin Fund, 1975
Accession Number
1975.548.192
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the 1860s, Parisian photographer Pierre-Louis Pierson this captivating albumen silver print from a glass negative, hand-colored to enhance its vividness. Titled *La Comtesse in robe de piqué or as Judith *, it portrays the glamorous Countess Virginia Oldoiniasis di Castiglione, notorious Italian noblewoman and courtesan known as La Castiglione. just 12.4 x 8.7 cm, this carte-de-visite format was ideal for personal albums, allowing admirers to carry her image discreetly. The Countess was a pioneer of self-fashioning, commissioning hundreds of portraits to craft her public persona as a seduc...
About the Artist
Pierre-Louis Pierson|Countess Virginia Oldoini Verasis di Castiglione · 1822–1913
Pierre-Louis Pierson (1822–1913) was a pioneering French portrait photographer whose career spanned the formative years of the medium. Born on December 13, 1822, in Hinckange in the Moselle department, Pierson developed an early fascination with photography during the 1840s, as the daguerreotype was still in its infancy. His early life and formal training remain sparsely documented, but by 1844, h...