Nadar (félix Tournachon, Known As) - Portrait Of The Baroness De Tengagnagell - Photographic Enamel
Paris, Nadar & Cie, 1864. 85 x 68 mm, counter-enamel in white flux speckled with turquoise green with handwritten inscription on glaze: "Procédé Lafon de Camarsac / [18]64 / Nadar & Cie / 35 Boult des Capucines / 2040", antique red velvet frame (131 x 99 mm).
Exceptional portrait of Blanche-Cécile-Alexandrine-Géraldine van Tengnagell, Baroness Regnault (1791-1864), aged 73 in the year of her death. Seated in an armchair, wrapped in a corseted silk dress and heavy fur-lined coat, head resting on her left hand, gaze directed toward the lens. Artistic pose characteristic of Nadar's talent with "learned and reasoned arrangement of light" and "delicate search for harmony" (Henri Tournier, 1859).
Rare Lafon de Camarsac process: positive from collodion on glass plate transferred to enameled plate, fired in muffle kiln then glazed, creating an unalterable image. After 1864, integration of Poitevin's carbon process. Photographic enamel, addressing the concern of integrating photographic images with fire arts, lent itself to multiple uses (miniature portraits, medallions, funerary art).
Documented rarity: BnF holds fewer than 30 photographic enamels including only 3 by Lafon de Camarsac and 8 by Nadar. No other Nadar enamel using the Lafon de Camarsac process has been located.
Pierre Michel Marie Alcide Lafon de Camarsac (1821-1905), inventor of photographic enamels (patent 1854), gold medal at 1867 Universal Exhibition (over 15,000 enamels delivered by that date).
Reference: Erika Speel, Dictionary of Enamelling: History and Techniques, Routledge, 2018.
Exceptional portrait of Blanche-Cécile-Alexandrine-Géraldine van Tengnagell, Baroness Regnault (1791-1864), aged 73 in the year of her death. Seated in an armchair, wrapped in a corseted silk dress and heavy fur-lined coat, head resting on her left hand, gaze directed toward the lens. Artistic pose characteristic of Nadar's talent with "learned and reasoned arrangement of light" and "delicate search for harmony" (Henri Tournier, 1859).
Rare Lafon de Camarsac process: positive from collodion on glass plate transferred to enameled plate, fired in muffle kiln then glazed, creating an unalterable image. After 1864, integration of Poitevin's carbon process. Photographic enamel, addressing the concern of integrating photographic images with fire arts, lent itself to multiple uses (miniature portraits, medallions, funerary art).
Documented rarity: BnF holds fewer than 30 photographic enamels including only 3 by Lafon de Camarsac and 8 by Nadar. No other Nadar enamel using the Lafon de Camarsac process has been located.
Pierre Michel Marie Alcide Lafon de Camarsac (1821-1905), inventor of photographic enamels (patent 1854), gold medal at 1867 Universal Exhibition (over 15,000 enamels delivered by that date).
Reference: Erika Speel, Dictionary of Enamelling: History and Techniques, Routledge, 2018.
3 000 €
Period: 19th century
Style: Napoleon 3rd
Condition: Excellent condition
Reference (ID): 1660451
Availability: In stock
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