Untitled (Portrait of an unidentified man)

Artist Jean-Baptiste Frénet (French, 1814 - 1889)

CultureFrench

Dateca. 1855

MediumSalted paper print from collodian negative

DimensionsOverall, Image: 9 3/16 × 6 7/8 in. (23.3 × 17.5 cm)
Overall, Mat (matted with 2000.4.2): 20 × 24 in. (50.8 × 61 cm)
Overall, Frame: 21 1/4 × 25 5/8 × 1 1/4 in. (54 × 65.1 × 3.2 cm)

Credit LineMuseum purchase, in memory of Alice R. and Sol. B. Frank

Object number2000.4.1

On View

Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 228

DescriptionAn unknown man is posed dynamically in the frame. The drama of the portrait is enhanced by the use of light both on the subject and in the background.

Label TextJean-Baptiste Frénet French, 1814–1889 Untitled (Portrait of an unidentified man), ca. 1855 Salted paper print from collodion negative Irked by the popularity of the new medium, an art critic in 1856 complained that “all the realists and geometers will become photographers.” Such was the career of the Lyonnais painter Jean-Baptiste Frénet. Although he studied in Rome, he failed to win patrons. Around 1854 he took up the faster collodion negative process, posing family members and friends, such as this debonair relative, into unusually relaxed groupings. Despite setting up a portrait studio in Lyon in the early 1860s, he remained unknown in Parisian photo circles and his works were only rediscovered in 2000. Museum purchase, in memory of Alice R. and Sol. B. Frank 2000.4.1 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. "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. Published ReferencesJanuary 22, 2000 Auction Catalog from Pescheteau-Badin, Godeau, Leroy and the Parisian expert Marc Pagneux.