L'impératrice Eugénie en prière

1856

Not on view

Le Gray's photograph of Eugénie, wife of Emperor Napoleon III, was apparently intended as an aid to Thomas Couture for a large (and never completed) painting commemorating the baptism of Eugénie's son, the prince imperial. Le Gray, or perhaps Couture himself, posed the empress kneeling at a prie-dieu in the château at Saint-Cloud, elegantly trimmed in white tulle, and set against a dark ground; she plays perfectly her public and private roles, dignified and contemplative, imperial and maternal, in a private space amid imagined ceremony.

Artwork Details

Title: L'impératrice Eugénie en prière
Artist: Gustave Le Gray (French, 1820–1884)
Date: 1856
Medium: Albumen silver print from a collodion glass negative
Dimensions: Image: 23.4 x 18.3 cm (9 3/16 x 7 3/16 in.)
Mount: 40.1 × 27.5 cm (15 13/16 × 10 13/16 in.)
Classification: Photographs
Credit Line: Gilman Collection, Purchase, Harriette and Noel Levine Gift, 2005
Object Number: 2005.100.258
Curatorial Department: Photographs

More Artwork

By Gustave Le Gray

In the same medium

From the same time and place

[The Great Wave, Sète], Gustave Le Gray French, Albumen silver print from glass negative — [The Great Wave, Sète]
Gustave Le Gray
1857

Ceramic Horn, Glazed pottery, French — Ceramic Horn
French
late 18th or early 19th century

[Man in Chainmail Tunic Posing as a Dying Soldier], Adrien Constant de Rebecque Swiss, Albumen silver print from collodion glass negative — [Man in Chainmail Tunic Posing as a Dying Soldier]
Adrien Constant de Rebecque
ca. 1863

[Oak Tree and Rocks, Forest of Fontainebleau], Gustave Le Gray French, Salted paper print from paper negative — [Oak Tree and Rocks, Forest of Fontainebleau]
Gustave Le Gray
1849–52

Édouard Manet, Seated, Holding His Hat, Edgar Degas French, Graphite and black chalk — Édouard Manet, Seated, Holding His Hat
Edgar Degas
Sitter Edouard Manet
ca. 1868

Research Resources

The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.

To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.

Feedback

We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please contact us using the form below. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.

Send feedback

Content Notice

The Metropolitan Museum of Art presents over 5,000 years of art from around the world, and our online collection reflects ongoing work conducted over the course of our more than 150-year history. You may encounter objects or images that may be inappropriate for some viewers or information that may be outdated.