[Mathias Häusermann, Marie Antoine, Elise Häusermann, and Pepe Wöss]

Art Historical Context

Captured in the 1850s–60s by Swiss photographer Franz Antoine, *Mathias Häusermann, Antoine, Elise Häus, and Pepe Wöss* is a charming albumen silver print from a negative, now housed in the Metropolitan Museum Art's Photographs Department (David Hunter McAlpin Fund 1948). This was revolutionary in its era, producing richly toned images with exceptional clarity and detail, making it ideal for intimate portraits. Antoine, active during photography's formative years, mastered this wet-collodion process, which required coating glass plates with chemicals on-site for sharp results before they dried...

About the Artist

Franz Antoine · 1815–1886

Franz Antoine (1815–1886) was an Austrian botanist and horticulturalist who served as court gardener at the Imperial Gardens of Schönbrunn in Vienna, one of the most celebrated horticultural establishments in nineteenth-century Europe. His career unfolded at the intersection of scientific botany and the decorative arts of the garden, positioning him as a key figure in the cultivation and documenta...