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| Bruno Braquehais Model before a Mirror ca. 1857 albumen silver print Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
"Académies, or nudes intended for use as preparatory studies for other artworks, were one of the most prolific forms of photography after the medium's invention in 1839. Trained as a lithographer, Braquehais registered his first photographs for sale in 1854. Through the use of elaborate props, soft lighting, and poses based on classical statues, he elevated erotic imagery to the realm of the artistic, as defined by watchful state censors. Despite the provocative nature of this photograph, it would have been deemed acceptable due to its overt reference to the established visual tradition of women at their toilettes."
– curator's notes from the Metropolitan Museum
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| Francis Frith Turkish Summer Costume 1857 albumen print Princeton University Art Museum |
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| Francis Frith Pyramids at Sakkara 1858 albumen print Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri |
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| Francis Frith The Great Pyramid and the Great Sphinx at Giza 1858 albumen print Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri |
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| André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri Palais de Versailles 1857 albumen print Princeton University Art Museum |
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| André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri Self Portrait ca. 1860 albumen silver print Los Angeles County Museum of Art |
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| André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri Portrait of dancer Caroline Rosati ca. 1860 salted paper print Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Jacob Byerly Portrait of a Man ca. 1858 hand-colored daguerreotype Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
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| Anonymous Photographer Portrait of Mary Lynne Wells ca. 1858 hand-colored daguerreotype Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia |
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| Jeremiah Gurney Sally Hinkley ca. 1858 albumen print (carte de visite) Minneapolis Institute of Art |
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| Charles Marville Grotto, Bois de Boulogne 1858 albumen print Cleveland Museum of Art |
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| attributed to Benjamin Mulock Mrs Craik holding a Cat ca. 1858 salted paper print Art Institute of Chicago |
"Dinah Mulock Craik, a prolific English novelist and poet, was the subject of a series of over 25 photographs now in the Art Institute's collection. These portraits range from typical studio sittings to more casual photographs of Mrs. Craik in her garden; it is possible that at least some of them were produced by her younger brother, Benjamin Mulock, who learned photography (and later died in an asylum in 1863). In Victorian England, amateur photography required knowledge of chemistry and optics, funds to purchase equipment and chemicals, and ample leisure time to experiment. Happy accidents often resulted from these early photographs, such as the appearance here of a two-headed cat, the result of the cat moving its head during the lengthy exposure demanded by early photographic technology."
– curator's notes from the Art Institute of Chicago
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| Camille Silvy L'Ordre du Jour 1859 albumen print Art Institute of Chicago |
"In this highly staged composition, which he nevertheless presented as a news photograph, Camille Silvy adapted a traditional genre painting for the depiction of a topical event. In May 1859, Emperor Napoleon III led the French Army into Italy to aid the controversial Italian unification movement (and secure the region of Nice for France). To rally French citizens behind his undertaking, the emperor sent his address to the frontline troops – the "Day's Orders" – instantly by electric telegraph back to Paris, where it was printed overnight and posted in the streets. Silvy staged an image of the populace gathering before the poster; two of the men, who turn to face the camera, represent the intellectual and revolutionary factions opposed to the virtual police state that characterized Paris under the emperor's reign. The following week, the newspaper L'Illustration printed a lithographic reproduction of the photograph, making this picture one of the earliest examples of photojournalism."
– curator's notes from the Art Institute of Chicago
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| William Lyndon Smith Overgrown Ruins ca. 1857-60 albumen print Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
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| William Lyndon Smith Wooded Slope ca. 1857-60 albumen print Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
"William Lyndon Smith was a promising and well-known artist-photographer of the 1850s. He was one of the early users of the wet collodion process on glass negatives, invented in 1851, from which he made fine albumen prints. As a gentleman amateur, Lyndon Smith made very few prints, primarily only for exhibition. As a result, these prints are very rare, probably unique, and have remained in good condition in the possession of the Lyndon Smith family until now. They are excellent examples of the artistic aspirations of photographers of the 1850s before the commercialisation of the 1860s. Lyndon Smith may have become better known if he had continued to work into the 1860s, but his talent was cut short by an early death due to a skating accident in which he attempted to save a man and woman who had fallen through ice on a pond near his home."
– curator's notes from the Victoria & Albert Museum
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| Olympe Aguado Quelques familiers de Louis Robert ca. 1860 albumen silver print Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
