Le Pé
Medium
Albumen silver print from glass negative
Dimensions
Image: 14.4 x 10 cm (5 11/16 x 3 15/16 in.) Mat: 35.6 x 27.9 cm (14 x 11 in.)
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gilman Collection, Gift of The Howard Gilman Foundation, 2005
Accession Number
2005.100.391.1–.2
Tags
Art Historical Context
**Le Pied**, captured on August 1, 1894, by photographer Pierre-Louis Pierson, the legendary Countess Virginia Oldoiniasis di Castiglione. This intimate albumen silver print from a glass negative—measuring a modest 14.4 x 10 cm—zeroes in on her feet, a rare and playful focus amid her vast photographic legacy. Produced at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Gilman Collection, the image exemplifies 19th-century photography's precision, where albumen prints delivered rich tonal depth and fine detail from glass negatives, revolutionizing portraiture. The Countess of Castiglione, a dazzling Italian nob...
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...