Metropolitan Museum of Art Gilman Collection, Gift of The Howard Gilman Foundation, 2005, Accession Number: 2005.100.372.2
Curatorial description (Accessed: 10 January 2018)
Although Dubois de Nehaut is best known for his early achievements in photographic reportage, he also produced a series of carefully posed portraits of his family and friends. Here the amateur photographer dons his judge's robes, standing nobly in front of a makeshift backdrop. Dubois de Nehaut served as magistrate in Lille before relocating to Brussels after the revolutions of 1848. In 1850 the king of Belgium appointed him a knight of the Order of Leopold for helping to maintain the law and stop war from spilling across the border. The medals splayed across his chest in this self-portrait shine with their wearer's pride.
