Getty Museum
Prince de Syracuse, frère de Roi Ferdinand
Creator
Nadar [Gaspard Félix Tournachon]French Photographer · 1820–1910
All works by this person →> The sun is only the practitioner, M[r]. Nadar is the artist who wants to give him some work. So wrote a critic of Gaspard Félix Tournachon in 1859. Tournachon's nickname, Nadar, derived from youthful slang, but became his professional signature and the name by which he is best known today. Poor but talented, Nadar began by scratching out a living as a freelance writer and caricaturist. His writi
More on Getty ULAN- Date
- 1858
- Medium
- Salted paper print
- Culture
- French
- Department
- Photographs
- Institution
- Getty Museum
As he was of royal blood, Leopold, Count of Syracuse was an atypical sitter for the antimonarchical Nadar. How he found his way to Nadar's studio is something of a mystery. Married to a prudish princess whom he apparently disliked, Leopold settled into a life of earthly pleasures, political dissent, lavish generosity, and patronage of the arts. He was nonetheless a talented and ambitious amateur sculptor whose wealth and position made it possible for him to erect public monumental sculptures of his own creation in his native Naples. Alluding to Leopold's job as sculptor or to Renaissance princely portraiture, Nadar arranged a great swath of velvet over his sitter's shoulder, effectively shielding his big body. Beneath this sweep of fabric, Leopold appears to wear only a simple shirt with a banded edge, a surprisingly unassuming costume for one of his rank. Together face, drapery, and lighting produce an effect strongly reminiscent of Titian's portraits.
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