Mlle Pancaldy - Italiens
1850s–60s
Medium
Albumen silver print from glass negative
Dimensions
Image: 7 3/8 × 9 1/4 in. (18.8 × 23.5 cm) Album page: 10 3/8 × 13 3/4 in. (26.3 × 35 cm)
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gilman Collection, Gift of The Howard Gilman Foundation, 2005
Accession Number
2005.100.588.1.14
Art Historical Context
In the vibrant world of mid-19th-century Paris, André-Adolpheugène Disdéri *Mlle Pancaldy - Italiens*, a striking portrait from the 1850s–60s likely featuring the performer Mademoiselle Pancaldy associated with the Théâtre des Itali. Disdéri, a pioneering French photographer, revolutionized the medium with his invention of the carte de visite—a small, affordable portrait format that turned photography into a social phenomenon, much like today's celebrity trading cards. This albumen silver print, made from a glass negative, exemplifies the era's cutting-edge technique. Albumen, derived from eg...
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...