André Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri
1850s (or later)
Count Olympe Aguado and his family

Carte de visites
Larry Gottheim, Be-hold, Inc
Courtesy of Larry Gottheim - Be-Hold (52 / 14)
 
2 original glass-covered passe-partouts, each having a board mount with three window frames. The frames, within ruled rectangles, have gilded inner borders, each showing a carte de visite. The CDV's have been mounted against a paper backing, so the backmark can not be seen, but the pillar and curtain and other studio props identify the maker as A. A. E. Disderi. The wealthy amateurs Count Olympe Aguado and Edouard Delessert produced small photographs that they used as calling cards. An 1854 article stated: "An original idea gave M. Edouard Delessert and Count Aguado the opportunity to make some delicious small portraits. Until now, calling cards have carried the name, address, and sometimes titles of the people they represented. Why not replace the name with a portrait?" [Quoted in McCauley, "A.A. E. Disderi and the Carte de Visite Portrait Photograph."] Disderi realized the commercial possibilities of this format, patented it and made it the mainstay of his studio output. He is known to have made portraits of Aguado [McCauley p. 44], who himself produced CDV's, sometimes in association with Gustave Le Gray. The 6 CDV's include portraits of Olympe, his brother Onesime, his mother the Marquise de la Marismas, and others.
 
LL/30997