{
"data": {
"id": 157680,
"accession_number": "1995.179",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Monsieur Merlen, 1861. Andr\u00e9 Adolphe-Eug\u00e8ne Disd\u00e9ri (French, 1819\u20131889). Albumen print from wet collodion negative, uncut carte-de-visite proof print; image: 19.9 x 23.1 cm (7 13/16 x 9 1/8 in.); matted: 35.6 x 45.7 cm (14 x 18 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Paula and Robert Hershkowitz in memory of Sam Wagstaff, 1995.179",
"current_location": null,
"title": "Monsieur Merlen",
"creation_date": "1861",
"creation_date_earliest": 1861,
"creation_date_latest": 1861,
"artists_tags": [
"male"
],
"culture": [
"France, 19th century"
],
"technique": "albumen print from wet collodion negative, uncut carte-de-visite proof print",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "Photography",
"collection": "Photography",
"type": "Photograph",
"measurements": "Image: 19.9 x 23.1 cm (7 13/16 x 9 1/8 in.); Matted: 35.6 x 45.7 cm (14 x 18 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"image": {
"height": 0.199,
"height_inch": 7,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.8125,
"width": 0.231,
"width_inch": 9,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.125
},
"matted": {
"height": 0.356,
"height_inch": 14,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.0,
"width": 0.457,
"width_inch": 18,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.0
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [
{
"inscription": "Written in ink on recto: \"25055 [sic]\"; in pencil on verso: \"24055 x M. Merlen\"; in blue crayon on verso: \"24055\"",
"inscription_translation": null,
"inscription_remark": null,
"sortorder": null
}
],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 188432,
"title": "19th-Century French Portrait Photography from the Cleveland Museum of Art",
"description": "19th-Century French Portrait Photography from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 27-August 9, 2000).",
"opening_date": "2000-05-27T00:00:00"
},
{
"id": 197576,
"title": "France at the Dawn of Photography",
"description": "France at the Dawn of Photography. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 4, 2009-January 24, 2010).",
"opening_date": "2009-10-04T00:00:00"
},
{
"id": 286506,
"title": "Cheating Death: Portrait Photography\u2019s First Half Century",
"description": "Cheating Death: Portrait Photography\u2019s First Half Century. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 22, 2016-February 5, 2017).",
"opening_date": "2016-10-22T04:00:00"
},
{
"id": 316500,
"title": "PROOF: Photography in the Era of the Contact Sheet",
"description": "PROOF: Photography in the Era of the Contact Sheet. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 7-November 29, 2020).",
"opening_date": "2020-02-07T05:00:00"
},
{
"id": 705705,
"title": "France in the Time of Manet and Morisot",
"description": "France in the Time of Manet and Morisot. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 10-August 23, 2026).",
"opening_date": "2026-05-10T04:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": []
},
"provenance": [],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": "The carte-de-visite process was so inexpensive, Monsieur Merlen felt he could clown around, riding a child's toy horse in the first two exposures.",
"early_education_description": null,
"artlens_description": null,
"description": "The carte-de-visite, a small photograph mounted on card stock, was patented by Andr\u00e9 Adolphe-Eug\u00e8ne Disd\u00e9ri in 1854. This efficient, inexpensive process employed a camera with four lenses and a sliding plate holder that produced eight sequential exposures on a single glass negative. The resulting paper print was cut into individual images. This uncut sheet, which includes several humorous views, was probably produced for the sitter\u2019s approval. The low cost of the carte-de-visite led to the trend of collecting celebrity portraits. By 1862, Disd\u00e9ri\u2019s studio was producing over 2,000 prints a day, making him reputedly the world\u2019s richest photographer.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q79974775"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-1995.179-monsieur-merlen"
]
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E Hinson. Catalogue of Photography. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: P. 140",
"url": ""
}
],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1995.179",
"images": {
"annotation": null,
"web": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1995.179/1995.179_web.jpg",
"width": "1036",
"height": "893",
"filesize": "647957",
"filename": "1995.179_web.jpg"
},
"print": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1995.179/1995.179_print.jpg",
"width": "3400",
"height": "2930",
"filesize": "5491748",
"filename": "1995.179_print.jpg"
},
"full": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1995.179/1995.179_full.tif",
"width": "4596",
"height": "3961",
"filesize": "54649216",
"filename": "1995.179_full.tif"
}
},
"alternate_images": [],
"creditline": "Gift of Paula and Robert Hershkowitz in memory of Sam Wagstaff",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": null,
"sketchfab_url": null,
"gallery_donor_text": null,
"athena_id": 157680,
"creators": [
{
"id": 358,
"description": "Andr\u00e9 Adolphe-Eug\u00e8ne Disd\u00e9ri (French, 1819\u20131889)",
"extent": null,
"qualifier": null,
"role": "artist",
"biography": "Andr\u00e9-Adolphe-Eug\u00e8ne Disd\u00e9ri French, 1819-1889 Disd\u00e9ri is best known as a portraitist and popularizer of the carte-de-visite. He spent 10 years as a painter and working in the theater, and another five in the clothing business, before becoming seriously interested in photography around age 30. He first operated studios in Brest and N\u00eemes, then moved to Paris and opened a studio in 1854, and a second in 1863. In 1854 Disd\u00e9ri patented the carte-de-visite, a method of producing a number of small images on a single negative that achieved great popularity. He later opened additional studios in London, Madrid, and Toulon. Disd\u00e9ri was one of the best known portrait photographers of his day, with many important commissions and sitters. Like Mathew Brady, he was an innovator and entrepreneur as well as an artist. The carte-de-visite, which he did not invent, but rather adapted, helped photography to become increasingly versatile as a medium and available to people of all means. In 1879 Disd\u00e9ri sold his business and moved to Nice. Despite his success, he died 10 years later in Paris in poverty, obscurity, and poor health. T.W.F.",
"name_in_original_language": null,
"birth_year": "1819",
"death_year": "1889",
"use_in_caption": true,
"include_extent": false,
"weight": 1
}
],
"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "1995-12-04T00:00:00",
"sortable_date": 1861,
"date_added_to_oa": null,
"date_text": "1861",
"collapse_artists": false,
"on_loan": false,
"recently_acquired": false,
"record_type": "object",
"conservation_statement": null,
"has_conservation_images": false,
"cover_accession_number": null,
"is_nazi_era_provenance": false,
"impression": null,
"alternate_titles": [],
"is_highlight": false,
"updated_at": "2026-09-09 19:14:08.167000"
}
}