Gioacchino Antonio Rossini

Artist Nadar (Gaspard-Félix Tournachon) (French, 1820-1910)

CultureFrench

Date1856

MediumLightly albumenized salted paper print from collodian negative

DimensionsOverall, Image: 9 3/4 × 7 5/8 in. (24.8 × 19.4 cm)
Overall, Support: 14 3/8 × 11 3/16 in. (36.5 × 28.4 cm)
Overall, Mat: 19 15/16 × 16 in. (50.6 × 40.6 cm)
Overall, Frame: 21 1/4 × 17 1/4 × 1 1/4 in. (54 × 43.8 × 3.2 cm)

InscribedSigned "Nadar" and inscribed "113 St. Lazare" by the photographer in ink on the image, mounted, signed "G. Rossini." Inscribed to A. de Groot, and dated "Paris 6 Oct. 1859" by the sitter in ink and with the photographer's circular Nadar & Co. 113 R. St. Lazare studio blind-stamp on the the mount.

Credit LineMuseum purchase, in memory of Alice R. Frank with funds contributed by the Board of Trustees of The Chrysler Museum of Art and the Art Purchase Fund

Object number95.40

On View

Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 228

DescriptionThis work is a salt print or lightly albumenized salt print on its original mount. It is signed "Nadar" and inscribed "113 St. Lazare" by the photographer in ink on the image, mounted, signed "G.Rossini." Inscribed to A. de Groot, and dated "Paris 6 Oct. 1859" by the sitter in ink and with the photographer's circular Nadar & Co. 113 R. St. Lazare studio blind-stamp on the mount. The subject of this photograph is Giocchino Antonio Rossini, one of the most renowned composers of 19th century opera. This is the finest print form this negative. Other prints are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Detroit Institute of the Arts.

Label TextNadar [Gaspard-Félix Tournachon] French, 1820–1910 Gioachino Antonio Rossini, 1856 Lightly albumenized salted paper print from collodion negative The caricaturist known as “Nadar” turned to photography in 1854 to help him make portrait studies for a large comic lithograph of celebrities. Rossini, who had worn himself out writing operas by the age of thirty-seven, returned to Paris in 1855 for medical treatment. Using his talents as a conversationalist, Nadar won a bemused smile from the ailing maestro. Rossini must have bought several prints, dedicating this one in 1859 to Adolphe de Groot, a composer and conductor at the Cirque Nationale who may have been among the notables invited to Rossini’s fashionable musical salons. Museum purchase, in memory of Alice R. Frank with funds contributed by the Board of Trustees of the Chrysler Museum of Art and the Art Purchase Fund 95.40 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. "Treasures for the Community: The Chrysler Collects, 1989-1996," October 25, 1996 - March 2, 1997 "History of Photography," Alice R. and Sol B. Frank Photography Galleries, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va, Fall, 2001. "Silver Images: The Photography Collection at 25," Alice R. and Sol B. Frank Photo Galleries, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., November 5, 2003 - August 2004. "Photographic Histories," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, May 10 - August 17, 2014.Published ReferencesJeff Harrison, _Collecting with Vision: Treasures From the Chrysler Museum of Art_ (London: D. Giles Ltd., 2007), 106, fig. 126. ISBN: 978-0-940744-72-1