[Album page with ten photographs of La Comtesse mounted recto and verso]

Person in Photograph Countess Virginia Oldoini Verasis di Castiglione

1861–67

Not on view

The photographs laid out by the countess on this page illustrate different stages in a busy day. Midday (top left) shows her in street clothes, ready to partake of a country picnic. In Ernani (top right), a reference to Verdi's opera, she is blowing a small hunting horn. Nightlife scenes show her enjoying herself in a private room of a big restaurant on the boulevard or sitting forlorn in the back room of a brasserie or dance hall. The photograph at the center may have been inspired by Greuze's widely reproduced painting Young Girl Weeping over Her Dead Bird. This album page is emblematic of the countess's personal world, with its tug-of-war between joy and sadness.

Artwork Details

Object Information

Overview

Provenance

Exhibition History

References

Title: [Album page with ten photographs of La Comtesse mounted recto and verso]
Artist: Pierre-Louis Pierson (French, 1822–1913)
Person in Photograph: Countess Virginia Oldoini Verasis di Castiglione (1835–1899)
Date: 1861–67
Medium: Albumen silver prints from glass negative
Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.6 cm (4 1/4 x 3 3/8 in.) to 2.5 x 3.5 cm (1 x 1 3/8 in.)
Classification: Photographs
Credit Line: David Hunter McAlpin Fund, 1975
Object Number: 1975.548.258–.262
Curatorial Department: Photographs

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[Album page with ten photographs of La Comtesse mounted recto and verso], Pierre-Louis Pierson French, Albumen silver prints from glass negative — [Album page with ten photographs of La Comtesse mounted recto and verso]
Pierre-Louis Pierson
Person in Photograph Countess Virginia Oldoini Verasis di Castiglione
1861–67

[Standing at the Prie-Dieu], Pierre-Louis Pierson French, Albumen silver print from glass negative — [Standing at the Prie-Dieu]
Pierre-Louis Pierson
Person in Photograph Countess Virginia Oldoini Verasis di Castiglione
1861–64

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[Nine Portraits in Original Passe-Partout], James William Bailey British, Albumen silver prints from glass negatives with applied color — [Nine Portraits in Original Passe-Partout]
Multiple artists/makers
1880s

La Frayeur, Pierre-Louis Pierson French, Salted paper print from glass negative with applied color — La Frayeur
Pierre-Louis Pierson
Painted and retouched by Unknown
Person in Photograph Countess Virginia Oldoini Verasis di Castiglione
1861–67

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