Théophile Gautier
ca. 1856
Medium
Salted paper print from glass negative
Dimensions
Image: 24.8 x 19.7 cm (9 3/4 x 7 3/4 in.) oval Mount: 26.9 x 21.7 cm (10 9/16 x 8 9/16 in.)
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gilman Collection, Purchase, Harriette and Noel Levine Gift, 2005
Accession Number
2005.100.256
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant cultural scene of mid-19th-century Paris with Nadar's captivating portrait of *Théophile Gautier* (ca. 1856). Nadar, the pseudonym of Gaspard-Félix Tournachon, was a pioneering photographer renowned for his intimate portraits of France's intellectual elite—writers, artists, and thinkers. Here, he captures Gautier, a leading Romantic poet, novelist, and critic whose flamboyant style and advocacy for "art for art's sake" shaped literary movements like Parnassianism. Printed as a salted paper positive from a glass negative, this oval image (24.8 x 19.7 cm) exemplifies early...