[Profile of the Prince Imperial]
![[Profile of the Prince Imperial] by André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri](https://images.artheonmuseum.org/met/ph/thumb/profile-of-the-prince-imperial-286378.webp)
Medium
Albumen silver print from glass negative
Dimensions
Image: 25.1 x 18.3 cm (9 7/8 x 7 3/16 in.) Mount: 28.2 x 20.5 cm (11 1/8 x 8 1/16 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
2005.100.242
Tags
Art Historical Context
In 1863, French photographer André-Adolpheugène Disdéri *Profile of the Prince Imperial a striking albumen silver print from a negative measuring 25.1 x 18.3 cm. This portrait depicts Napoléon Eugène Louis Bonaparte the young son of Emperor Napoleon III and heir to the French throne during the Second Empire. At just seven years old, the Imperial is shown in classic profile, evoking the cameos and ancient coins that symbolized imperial authority. Disdéri, a pioneer of commercial photography, revolutionized portraiture with his invention of the *carte de visite*—compact, affordable images that ...
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...