Le Grand Russe
1860s
Medium
Albumen silver print from glass negative
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
David Hunter McAlpin Fund, 1975
Accession Number
1975.548.243
Tags
Art Historical Context
**Le Grand Russe**, captured by French photographer Pierre-Louis Pierson the 1860s, is a striking albumen silver print from a negative, showcasing the era's pinnacle of photographic precision. This intimate portrait depicts a young boy profile, his features rendered with exquisite clarity against a simple backdrop. Pierson, a master of the carte de visite format popularized by his mentor Disdéri, specialized in elegant portraits of high society, blending photography's realism with painterly poise. The albumen process, using egg whites to coat paper for superior tonal range and fine detail, re...
About the Artist
Pierre-Louis Pierson · 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...