Details
UNKNOWN PHOTOGRAPHER
Dying Insurgent, 1848
quarter-plate daguerreotype, passe-partout, in original frame and backing
Provenance
Private Collection, New York;
acquired from the above by the present owner, 1980s.
Literature
Francoise Reynaud, Paris et le Daguerréotype, Paris-Musees, 1989, cat. 64, p. 175.
Exhibited
Paris, Paris et le Daguerreotype, Musée Carnavalet, October 31, 1989 - February 28, 1990.
Brought to you by
Lillian JonsonsJunior Specialist
A Christie's specialist may contact you to discuss this lot or to notify you if the condition changes prior to the sale.View condition report

Lot Essay


The present lot, a striking hand tinted daguerreotype of a portrait of a young, dying insurgent from the 1848 Paris Revolution, was exhibited at the Musée Carnavalet in 1989 for their landmark show “Paris et le Daguerréotype,” in 1989. In a letter to the Maillet's, Bernard de Montgolfier, the museum’s Inspecter General at the time, requested their “exceptional item” as a loan to the exhibition:

“The Musée Carnavalet is, as you know, organizing a major exhibition on “Paris and the daguerréotype”. There will be more than a hundred pieces coming from different countries (U.S.A., Canada, Belgium, Denmark, France…) and from private and public collections (William Schaeffer, Andre Jammes, Comte Geoffroy de Beauffort) [...] The Bibliotheque Nationale will lend us the portrait of a young man holding a flag of the 1848 French Revolution. Your dead revolutionary would put the emphasis on this very dramatic period of our history, if you agree to lend this extraordinary piece that you so kindly showed to Francoise Reynaud when she visited you in New York last year [...] I do hope that you will agree such a loan because your daguerreotype is indeed a very exceptional item.”

The work is in its original frame and backing.

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Condition report

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View Condition Report