Portrait of Brahms
1862/80
Medium
Albumen print (carte-de-visite)
Dimensions
Image/paper: 9.2 × 5.6 cm (3 5/8 × 2 1/4 in.); Card: 10.3 × 6.3 cm (4 1/16 × 2 1/2 in.)
Classification
carte-de-visite (albumen)
Department
Photography and Media
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
23888
Art Historical Context
This carte-de-visite portrait captures the renowned composer Johannes Brahms during the height of his career in the mid-to-late nineteenth century. Created by photographer Johann Reiner between 1862 and 1880, the albumen print offers a glimpse into the growing intersection of music, celebrity, and visual culture at the time. Brahms, already celebrated across Europe for his symphonies and chamber works, would have been a natural subject for such an image, which allowed admirers to own a likeness of the artist. The carte-de-visite format itself marked a significant development in photography. T...