Getty Museum

[Girl Holding a Basket]

Date

about 1849

Medium

Hand-colored daguerreotype

Culture

French

Department

Photographs

Institution

Getty Museum

The scant information known about the Atelier Héliographique (Sun-writing Studio) was gleaned from a label attached to the back of this daguerreotype in the Getty Museum's collection. In 1849 this photograph earned a gold medal in a local competition at the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers (Conservatory of Arts and Crafts), located just a few blocks south of the Atelier's address at 13 boulevard St.-Martin in Paris. Because ample direct sunlight was needed to make the exposures for photographs, studios were usually located on the roofs of buildings. The Atelier Héliographique however was located on the ground floor. Thus, it was probably not an operating photographic studio but rather a business that distributed and sold photographs, specializing in daguerreotype portraits. Who was this serious little girl standing so perfectly still to have her portrait made? She is dressed for an outing, her straw bonnet carefully placed on the table beside her and a tasseled basket dangling from her arm. Her name is lost to posterity, but her penetrating gaze has endured. Her "mirror image," as daguerreotypes were called, will reflect her likeness for generations to come. Her flesh as well as her straw hat and basket have been lightly hand-colored, a common nineteenth-century practice that added a touch of realism to black-and-white photographs. Although expensive for most of the population—a daguerreotype cost roughly five times the average working-class daily wage in the 1840s—many working-class people sat for daguerreotypists to have their likeness made. Sitters planned for their portraits as carefully as for the most important ceremonies, with every detail of presentation thought out beforehand. Adapted from getty.edu, Interpretive Content Department, 2009.

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