Getty Museum
Jean-François Philibert Berthelier, comédien
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
- 1856–1859
- Medium
- Salted paper prints from glass negatives
- Culture
- French
- Department
- Photographs
- Institution
- Getty Museum
Jean-François-Philibert Berthelier was a singer, comic actor, and a kind of nineteenth-century "pop star." In the 1850s his performances were wildly popular throughout Europe in concert halls and salons. This portrait then would have been the equivalent of a publicity photograph. Nadar photographed Berthelier in character; in a single still image, Nadar skillfully managed to make the comedian *look* funny. He wears a fanciful, tassel-topped knitted cap while clutching a more sedate hat in front of him. His straw-like hair falls awkwardly around his neck in defiance of gravity and style. Berthelier wears an expression of mischievous glee as he looks off to the side, as if contemplating some act of impropriety taking place just out of the frame.
The authoritative record is held by Getty Museum. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.
Get printable QR codesHide QR codes
Open QR codes for this object page and the museum record. They stay collapsed until needed.
Related across collections
Semantically similar works from Getty Museum and other institutions.