Cleveland Museum of Art

Untitled (Portrait of a Woman)

Etienne Carjat

Date

1879

Medium

Photograph on enamel in copper alloy frame with velvet liner

Culture

France

Department

Photography

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Celebrated Parisian portrait photographer Etienne Carjat established his reputation through celebrity portraiture but his mainstay was images of middle- and upper-class sitters like this couple, presumably husband and wife. Seeking images more permanent than those made on paper, they paid extra to have their portraits vitrified on enamel. The process yields exquisitely detailed, durable images that appear as fresh as the day they were delivered to the sitters’ hands.

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