Tag Archives: Legrand

Photographic Portraits of French Cultural Figures by Nadar (1820-1910) in 19th-Century Paris: History, Commentary and Criticism.

By John P. Walsh. This presentation is excerpted from content of university course I taught whose research project is ongoing.












Nadar self portrait 1854

Nadar, Self Portrait, 1854. Throughout his career, Nadar took images of himself. This was used as a simple record of the artist but also a form of publicity for his business.

Nadar self portrait

Nadar, Self Portrait, 1855. 


Nadar, Atelier at 35, boulevard des Capucines, c. 1861. Nadar moved out of his mother’s house where he had his first studio into this grandiose showplace on the new boulevard which attracted celebrities, onlookers, and those eager to have their portrait taken in the nineteenth century. The script sign “Nadar” across the building’s facade at its upper floor offered a dramatic advertisement for the enterprising photographer.


The Nadars, c. 1864. Paul Nadar (1856-1939), Gaspard-Félix Nadar (1820-1910), Ernestine-Constance Nadar née Lefèvre (1836-1909). A family portrait portrayed both a close family unit of mother, father, and son, as well as the dynastic quality of Nadar’s photographic business to be inherited by none other than young Paul by the 1890’s.

de nerval


Charles Baudelaire


Charles Baudelaire

Nadar, Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867), 1855. The lumpy coat is likely a costume provided by Nadar that helps contrast the sitter’s slim frame and fine facial features.  The formal gesture of the right hand inside the coat, a pose known in Ancient Greece to indicate good manners, had appeared in eighteenth century art to establish calm and deliberation in its subject so posed. Baudelaire’s left hand in the pocket is informal and could intentionally serve to undermine or mock the classical gesture. Nadar’s portrait series of Baudelaire is important to view as a group since these are the few images of the French Symbolist poet that exist from the mid nineteenth century and in a manner of pose inspired by the artistic interchange of the diverse and inventive Nadar and his subject who was also his friend, the experimental modernist writer Baudelaire.


Nadar, Baudelaire, c. 1856.

Baudelaire 1862


Baudelaire c. 1862


Théodore de Banville


de Banville 1854

Nadar, Théodore de Banville, 1854. 

henri murger c 1855


Charles Philipon


Adrien Tournachon


Charles Deburau Pierrot 1


Jean-Charles Deburau (1829-1873) as Pierrot series, c. 1855.  This is another series of Nadar’s photographs–Deburau’s portrayal of the stock character Pierrot– that should be viewed as a group to appreciate the sitter portrayed in a single portrait, although this post includes only a small portion. A collaborative project by Nadar and Adrien. Nadar issued the invitation for Deburau to pose in the studio. Deburau is dressed as Pierrot, the famous commedia dell’arte character. These are rare full-length portraits in Nadar’s oeuvre and include Pierrot in a variety of dramatic poses, some more natural than others, in strongly sculptural light and  shadow. There is Pierrot surprised, Pierrot listening, Pierrot in pain, Pierrot laughing and, most famously, Pierrot photographer which explicitly suggests the performative dialogue  between sitter and photographer.

pierrot running

Pierrot running.

Pierrot laughing

Pierrot laughing.

Pierrot listening

Pierrot listening.

Pierrot photographer


Nadar Michelet c 1857


Nadar Prince Czartoryski c. 1858


Auguste Preault


louvre-silence 1842


Nadar E Pelletan 1855-59


molin 1858



Molin, Le Baiser rendu (Judas et Satan), 1840s, Chambéry; Musée des Beaux-Arts.

Nadar Rossini 1856

Nadar, Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868).  Italian composer who wrote 39 operas, including his French grand opera, Guillaume Tell (William Tell) in 1832 based on Friedrich Schiller’s 1804 play that is based on the previous William tell legend.


Alexandre Dumas pere

Alexandre Dumas père (1802-1870), Paris, c. 1855. The French writer’s works have been translated into many languages, and he is one of the most widely read French authors. Many of his historical novels of high adventure were originally published as serials including The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers, and Twenty Years After, among others. His novels have been adapted since the early twentieth century into hundreds of films.


Francoius-Louis Lesueur


Goncourt Brothers

Nadar (and Adrien Tournachon), Edmond Goncourt (1822-1896) and Jules Goncourt (1830-1870), Paris, c. 1855. The brothers were taste-makers of their time. The Prix Goncourt, the best known and most prestigious of French literary awards, is named for them.

Nadar & Adrien Fremiet 1854


Paris PlacedesPyramidesJeanned'Arcequestre Frémiet 1874


Nadar Couder c. 1856


Couder Le Serment du Jeu de Paume, 20 juin 1789



Nadar, Mariette (Standing Nude), c. 1855. Only by viewing Nadar’s nude portraits in a group can the viewer begin to get a sense of the photographer’s inventiveness and grace in posing the model that achieves the maximum effect of the sitter’s degrees of vulnerability and beauty.

Seated Nude Partial drapery

Nadar, Mimi, c. 1857.

draped standing nude 1

Nadar, Draped Standing Nude, c. 1858.

maria l'antillaise

Maria L’Antillaise, Paris, c. 1858.

Mademoiselle de Sanzillon, c.1858

Mademoiselle de Sanzillon, Paris, c. 1858. Nadar took photographs of this society woman of the time. In a time when married women were still the legal property of their husband, Nadar’s portraits reveal a liberality of practice to find and display the individual personality of each female sitter. This is achieved by how the photographer posed them and captured their expression and outward fashion. The extent of Nadar’s abilities in the area of photographing women is best appreciated by seeing a select grouping of small-sized portraits that illustrate the range of this quality that he produced though a fraction of his oeuvre.

Finette c. 1857

Finette, c. 1857. 

mere marie jamet c. 1860


ernesta grisi 1854

Nadar (and Adrien Tournachon), Ernesta Grisi, 1854. 

Mlle de baste c 1855

Mademoiselle de Basté, c. 1855. 

musette, c. 1854


young woman in profile c 1859

Young woman in profile, c. 1859.

Marie Laurent

Marie Laurent (1826-1904), Paris, c. 1856. 

maria d'antillaise

Maria L’Antillaise, Paris, c. 1858.

young model

Young Model, Paris, c. 1858.

juliette adam

Juliette Adam (1835-1936), Paris, c. 1858.

Carlotta Grisi

Carlotta Grisi ( 1819-1899), Paris, 1865. 

Jules Janin





Le Théâtre des Variétés, sur le boulevard Montmartre, à Paris (IIe).

Nadar Emile Blavier1


Buste de fillette au chignon Blavier.jpg

Blavier, Buste de fillette au chignon.

Hector Berlioz


The Chicago Symphony Orchestra performances is conducted by Stéphane Denève.

Paul Chenavard

Paul Chenavard (1807-1895), Paris, c. 1857. 

Nadar P-A Ravel 1854

Nadar, Pierre-Alfred Ravel (1811-1881). Master comic on the Paris stage at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal for a quarter of century. Each brilliant conversationalists, both sitter and photographer were both at the height of their powers. The glorious theater interiors that still stand in Paris today give the best indication of the celebrity quality that surrounded many of Nadar’s sitters.

foyer theatre du Palais Royal

Foyer, Théâtre du Palais-Royal, 38 Rue de Montpensier, (1e).

Théâtre du Palais Royal Salle de-spectacle

Théâtre de la Montansier/Théâtre du Palais-Royal, 1er, Paris.

Rosine Stolz

Rosine Stolz (1815-1903), Paris, c.1857. 

Pierre Ciceri

Pierre Cicéri (1782-1868), Paris, c.1857.

JBC Corot


Honore Daumier


Honore Daumier


Nadar Daumier







Gustave Dore

Gustave Doré (1832-1883), Paris, c. 1857. 

Gustave Dore 2

Nadar, Gustave Doré, Paris, 1867. 

Gustave Doré, Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones, 1866. Printmaker and engraver, Doré’s illustrations for the Bible in 1866 were a huge success. This print depicts a vision in Ezekiel 37 when God transported Ezekiel to a valley full of dry bones. God directed Ezekiel to speak to the bones saying that God would make breath enter the bones and they would come to life. This would be just as God did at creation for Adam and Eve as told in Genesis’s first chapters. In Doré’s print, Ezekiel spoke, and God’s breath enters the bones so that they begin to come together, develop flesh and skin, and stand up and form a vast army.  

Jean Journet


Courbet Journet 1850
Francois Guizot

François Guizot (1787-1874), Paris, c. 1857. Guizot was a government official in certain of the conservative governments that ruled in early-to-mid-nineteenth century France. Where Guizot was contentious and controversial as a public official, his breath of learning on French History and European Civilization led to the publication of historical tomes that he wrote on these subjects that are comprehensive and well written and remain exciting classics of the period.

moses saphire


eugene Delacroix

Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863), Paris, 1858. Many volumes could be and are dedicated to the work of this great French Romantic artist and painter. The Musée Delacroix in Paris reports that the artist lived in ten different dwellings and changed studios six times prior to 1857, the year he moved to 6 Rue de Fürstenberg. The apartment he occupied there became the Musée Delacroix in 1932. Delacroix decorated the Salon du Roi (1833–1838) and the library (1840–1846) of the Assemblé Nationale, followed by the library of the Sénat (1840–1851). He was then commissioned for the ceiling of the Galerie d’Apollon for the Musée du Louvre (1850–1851). Between 1851 and 1854, he also created the décor of the Salon de la Paix in the Paris Hôtel de Ville, although his work was unfortunately lost in the fire of 1871. Apart from that particular ensemble, all of Delacroix’s secular decoration still remains in its original location for our viewing pleasure today. The Musée Delacroix has the model of the Orpheus for one of the hemicycles of the Assemblée Nationale ceiling, as well as the model for the hemicycle of the Sénat library depicting Alexander Placing Homer’s Poems in a Golden Chest.

Two Bearded Heads after Veronese from The Marriage at Cana delacroix 1820

Delacroix, Two Bearded Heads, after Veronese (detail from “The Marriage at Cana”), 1820, oil on canvas. Photo by author.

Delacroix Lion Hunt 1861

Delacroix, Lion Hunt (detail), 1861, The Art Institute of Chicago. Photo by author.

adolphe cremieux

Adolphe Crémieux (1796-1880), Paris, c. 1858.

Isidore Severin

Isadore Severin, Baron Taylor (1789-1879), Paris, c. 1858. 

Nadar chennevieres c. 1855


emma livry

Emma Livry (1842-1863), Paris, c. 1859. 

Nadar self portrait c 1857

Nadar, Self Portrait, c. 1858. 

Nadar c 1859

Nadar, Self-Portrait, c. 1859. 

Nadar c 1860

Nadar, Self-Portrait, c. 1860.

Nadar in artificial light c 1859


Nadar c 1865

Nadar, Self-Portrait, c. 1865. 

nadar self portrait

Nadar Self Portrait.


Nadar in old age.

giacomo meyerbeer

Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791-1864), Paris, 1860. 

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon

Nadar atelier, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809-1865), Paris, 1862. 

Mikhail Bakunin

Mikhail Bakunin (1814-1876), Paris, c. 1863. 


Nadar, Édouard Manet (1832-1883), Paris, c. 1864. 



Manet Dead Christ with Angels 1864 Met NY


Nadar Legrand c 1858


George Sand

George Sand (1804-1876), Paris, 1864.

Sarah_Bernhardt 1864

Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923), Paris, c. 1864. 

Sarah Bernhardt late teens

Sarah Bernhardt in her late teens, c. 1859. 


Sarah Bernhardt 1864

Théâtre de la Renaissance1

Théâtre de la Renaissance, Paris (10e).

stage, Le théâtre de la Renaissance à Paris

Stage, Théâtre de la Renaissance, 20 boulevard Saint-Martin (10th), Paris. Sarah Bernhardt directed this theater from 1893 to 1899. It was built in 1873.

Divine Sarah by nadar

Sarah Bernhardt photographed by Nadar.

SB in title role of theodora 1884

Sarah Bernhardt photographed by Nadar in the title role of Théodora in 1884.

Theatre SB 1899




Théâtre Sarah-Bernhardt today is Théâtre de la Ville.

Theatre SB program 1906-07 for La Vierge d'Avila

Part of a program for a production of La Vierge d’Avila in 1907-1907 at the Théâtre Sarah-Bernhardt.

Divine Sarah by Nadar in La Tosca 1887

Sarah Bernhardt photographed by Nadar in a production of La Tosca in 1887.

Jules Champfleury

 Jules Champfleury (1821-1889), Paris, c. 1865. French writer and modern art critic. Champfleury was a prominent supporter of the Realist movement in painting and fiction and a champion of Gustave Courbet.

Gustave Courbet

Gustave Courbet (1819-1877), Paris, c. 1866. 

Courbet Woman with a Parrot 1866 Met


Charles-François Daubigny c. 1857


Daubigny Village of Groton 1857 San Francisco


Nadar Millet c. 1857


Millet The Angelus c. 1857


Jacques Offenbach

Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880), Paris, 1875. 


Charles Garnier


opera garnier 1

Paris Opera exterior and interior. Stock photos.

Le Grand Foyer Opera Garnier Paris
Constance Queniaux 1861

Constance Quéniaux (1832-1908), Paris, 1861. Documentary evidence (a letter between Alexandre Dumas fils and Georges Sand) points to the sitter in Nadar’s photograph, a former dancer at the Paris opera and a mistress of the Ottoman diplomat and art collector Khalil Bey as the subject in Gustave Courbet’s erotic painting, The Origin of the World (1866), in the Musée d’Orsay in Paris.

Ernestine Nadar 1854



Nadar, Ernestine Nadar, 1890. The Photographer’s wife displays a winsome expression in this portrait.


Victor Hugo (1802-1885).