Nadar Circa 1865. Portrait Of Alphonse Daudet At 25 Years Old

Felix Tournachon (1820 - 1910) known as Nadar was a jack-of-all-trades artist, by turns draftsman, novelist, photographer, poet, aeronaut, and even a few times spy, who brilliantly crossed the turbulent 19th century. An incisive caricaturist, he was known for his big heads, and collaborated with numerous newspapers such as the Charivari, the newspaper for laughs, or La revue Comique. From 1854, he set up a photographic studio, where the Parisian intelligentsia paraded to have their portrait taken. Our photo was taken around 1865, it represents a young Lion, as they said then, who from then on would become a major player in French literature. Alphonse Daudet (1840 - 1897) born in Nîmes joined his brother in Paris in 1857, where he lived a bohemian life, which would leave him with painful health consequences. He collaborated very early on with various newspapers, published verses and became the lover of a famous model, Marie Rieu. It was in 1860 that he became the secretary of the Duke of Morny. But his premature death in 1865, allowed him to devote himself entirely to letters and journalism. He now published books that would make him famous: who has not read Les lettres mon moulin? It is the youthful, but willful face of this future great author that Nadar then fixes with his dark room. The photograph, large (16.5 cm by 24 cm) laminated on a cardboard. Brown, is perfectly preserved. It was framed a little after 1900 in a rosewood frame with holly fillets, as evidenced by the framer's label on the background intact since then. The cardboard supporting the photograph bears an autograph signature of Nadar. Perfect original condition.