Untitled (Portrait of a woman)
Artist
Antoine François Claudet
(French, 1797 - 1867)
CultureFrench
Dateca. 1855
MediumHand-tinted stereoscopic daguerreotype
DimensionsOverall, Support: 3 1/4 x 6 7/8 in. (8.3 x 17.5 cm)
Overall, Image: 2 5/8 x 2 1/4 in. (6.7 x 5.7 cm)
Overall, Image: 2 5/8 x 2 1/4 in. (6.7 x 5.7 cm)
InscribedBack label reads: "Under The Patronage of Her MaJesty/By Royal Letters Patent/Mr. Antoine Claudet/107 Regent Street/Daguerreotype Miniatures/Plain and Coloured Stereoscopic Daguerreotype Portraits"
Credit LineGift of Dr. Robert W. Lisle
Object number91.101
On View
Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 228
Label TextAntoine François Jean Claudet French, 1797–1867 Untitled (Portrait of a woman), ca. 1855 Hand-tinted stereoscopic daguerreotype Scientists in the 1830s discovered that slight shifts in the images projected onto our retinas were combined in the brain to create the effect of three-dimensional vision. The first experiments with simulated stereoscopic vision used hand-drawn pictures, but the invention of photography inspired the construction of double-lensed cameras to capture two images from slightly different vantage points. When seen through specially designed viewers, called stereoscopes, the images gave the illusion of looking into deep space. To add tothe image’s verisimilitude and preciousness, daguerreotypists hired workers to add thin washes of color for skin tones and gold accents for jewelry. Antoine François Jean Claudet specializing in expensive stereo portraits like this one, which he sold from 1851 into the 1860s, when the daguerreotype process was mostly obsolete. Gift of Dr. Robert W. Lisle 91.101 Exhibition History"New Frames of Reference: Early French Photographers at Home and Abroad," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va, gallery 228, September 5, 2024 - February 16, 2025. "Photography Remembered: A Selective View from the Robert W. Lisle Collection," The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Va., October 19, 1990 - January 13, 1991. "20/20: Fashion in Photography," The Alice R. and Sol B. Frank Photography Galleries, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., September 23, 1999 - January 2, 2000. "Silver Images: The Photography Collection at 25," Alice R. and Sol B. Frank Photo Galleries, Chrysler Museum of Art, November 5, 2003 - August 2004. Published References_Photography Remembered: A Selective View from the Robert W. Lisle Collection_ (Norfolk, Va.: The Chrysler Museum, 1990), p. 41.
