Sèriè à la Ristori
1860s
Medium
Albumen silver print from glass negative
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
David Hunter McAlpin Fund, 1975
Accession Number
1975.548.130
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the glittering world of 1860s Paris, Pierre-Louis Pierson captured the dramatic allure of Adelaide Ristori, the renowned Italian tragedienne, in his *Série à la Rori*. This albumen silver print from a negative belongs to a series of portraits showcasing Ristori in her theatrical personas, reflecting the era's fascination with celebrity and performance. Pierson, a master of the Mayer & Pierson studio, specialized in elegant cartes de visite—small, collectible photographs that made stars accessible to the public. The albumen process, dominant in mid-19th-century photography, yielded richly t...
About the Artist
Pierre-Louis Pierson · 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...