Cleveland Museum of Art

Portrait of a Young Boy

Louis-Adolphe Humbert de Molard

Date

c. 1848

Medium

salted paper print from albumen on glass negative

Culture

France, 19th century

Department

Photography

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Baron Humbert de Molard, a wealthy amateur, began taking daguerreotypes of his friends, family, and servants in 1843. The following year he became one of the earliest Frenchmen to experiment with paper print processes. This salted paper print was made from a glass-plate negative sensitized with albumen. The stiff pose, placement of the subject’s hands, and glaring gaze are likely due to the long exposure time required by those materials. They imbue a young boy with the gravity and formality of a much older man.

The authoritative record is held by Cleveland Museum of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.