Mlle Sanlaville dans Gisèle

Art Historical Context

In 1863, French photographer André-Adolpheugène Disdéri captured *Mlle Sanlaville Gisèle*, a striking albumen silver print portraying the ballerina in her role from the Romantic ballet *Giselle*. This photograph exemplifies the mid-19th-century craze for theatrical imagery, as stars like Mlle Sanlav became celebrities through affordable, collectible portraits. Disd, a pioneer of photography, revolutionized the medium by inventing the carte de visite format—small, card-mounted photos that flooded Europe and fueled a portraiture boom during the Second Empire. The albumen silver print, made from a glass negative, delivers the era's signature rich tones, fine detail, and glossy sheen, thanks to egg-white coating on paper sensitized with silver salts. Measuring about 7⅜ × 9¼ inches, this image likely originated as a larger study or proof, highlighting Disdéri's mastery in studio lighting to evoke the ethereal grace of ballet. Housed in The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Gilman Collection, it reflects photography's shift from novelty to fine art, preserving fleeting performances for a mass audience and bridging theater with visual culture.

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...