Mlle Perolie; Elise Parent

Art Historical Context

Step into the elegant world of 1860s Parisian portraiture with *Mlle Perolie; Elise Parent* by André-Adolpheugène Disdéri, a masterful albumen silver print from a glass negative, created in 1861. Captured at the height of France's Second Empire, this photograph features the poised performer Elise Parent, known professionally as Mlle Perolie, whose poised gaze and refined attire evoke the glamour of the theater and café-concert scene. Disdéri, a pioneering French photographer, revolutionized the medium through his invention of the carte de visite—a small, affordable portrait format that turned photography into a cultural phenomenon, much like today's celebrity trading cards. The albumen silver print, coated with egg whites for its signature warm tones and fine detail, was the gold standard of mid-19th-century photography. Printed from a glass negative, it allowed for multiple sharp reproductions, making images like this one widely collectible. Measuring 7 3/8 × 9 1/4 inches on a larger album page, it hints at its role in personal scrapbooks where admirers gathered portraits of stars. Housed in The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Gilman Collection, this work highlights photography's shift from novelty to mass media, democratizing fame and preserving fleeting moments of cultural life for generations. A window into an era of innovation and celebrity worship!

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...