[Standing with a Rosary]
![[Standing with a Rosary] by Pierre-Louis Pierson|Countess Virginia Oldoini Verasis di Castiglione](https://images.artheonmuseum.org/met/ph/thumb/standing-with-a-rosary-286824.webp)
Medium
Albumen silver print from glass negative
Dimensions
Image: 11.7 x 8.5 cm (4 5/8 x 3 3/8 in.) Mount: 15.5 x 10 cm (6 1/8 x 3 15/16 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
2005.100.420
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the mid-19th century, during the opulent Second Empire era in France, photographer Pierre-Louis Pierson collaborated with the enigmatic Countess Virginia Oldoiniasis di Castiglione to *Standing with a Rosary (1861–67). This intimate albumen silver print from glass negative captures the Countess in a poised, contemplative stance, holding a rosary that evokes themes of piety and personal devotion. Measuring just 11.7 x 8.5 cm on its image, the small-scale portrait exemplifies the era's fascination with photography as a tool for self-presentation and celebrity. Albumen prints, prized for thei...
About the Artist
Pierre-Louis Pierson|Countess Virginia Oldoini Verasis di Castiglione · 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...