Vest of Emperor Maximilian
In the 1860s collecting and exchanging cartes-de-visite-little photographs about the size of a visiting card that were often mounted in ornate albums-grew tremendously popular in Europe and the United States. This uncut sheet of cartes depicts the bullet-riddled vest of the Austrian Archduke Maximilian I, who was appointed emperor of Mexico by Napoleon III in 1864. Maximilian's puppet regime lasted only three years; when the French army withdrew from Mexico in 1867, he was captured, tried, and executed by the nationalist supporters of Benito Juarez.
François Aubert, a French photographer who was in Mexico at the time, photographed Maximilian's corpse and clothing, producing a sensational and somewhat gruesome record of the execution and the politically charged relics of the slain emperor. This image of Maximillian's disembodied vest floating in an indeterminate space was re-photographed in carte-de-visite format by the highly successful Parisian photographer Disdéri.
François Aubert, a French photographer who was in Mexico at the time, photographed Maximilian's corpse and clothing, producing a sensational and somewhat gruesome record of the execution and the politically charged relics of the slain emperor. This image of Maximillian's disembodied vest floating in an indeterminate space was re-photographed in carte-de-visite format by the highly successful Parisian photographer Disdéri.
Artwork Details
- Title: Vest of Emperor Maximilian
- Artist: André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri (French, Paris 1819–1889 Paris)
- Artist: François Aubert (French, 1829–1906)
- Date: 1867
- Medium: Albumen silver print from glass negative
- Dimensions: 19.4 x 23.8 cm. (7 5/8 x 9 3/8 in.)
- Classification: Photographs
- Credit Line: Gift of Myriam and Harry Lunn, 1995
- Object Number: 1995.219
- Curatorial Department: Photographs
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