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Mexican carte-de-visite Portrait Album from the era of Maximilian and Napoleon III
92.R.8
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Contributing Institution:
Special Collections
Title: Mexican carte-de-visite portrait album from the era of Maximilian and Napoleon III
Creator:
Aubert, François
Identifier/Call Number: 92.R.8
Physical Description:
1 album(s)
(113 photographic prints)
Date (inclusive): between 1854 and 1870
Abstract: The album of carte-de-visite portraits was compiled by an unidentified person,
most likely of French nationality, during or shortly after the period known as the French intervention in Mexico (1861-1867)
when the French invaded and
ruled that country, establishing Maximilien, Archduke of Austria, as Emperor of Mexico. It includes photographs by several
photographers active in
France or Mexico such as François Aubert and André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri.
Physical Location: Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the
catalog record for this collection. Click here
for the
access policy .
Language of Material: Collection material is in French.
The collection is arranged in a single series: Series I. Mexican carte-de-visite portrait album from the era of Maximilian
and Napoleon IIII, between
1854 and 1870.
Open for use by qualified researchers.
Acquired in 1992.
Mexican carte-de-visite portrait album from the era of Maximilian and Napoleon III, between 1854 and 1870, The Getty Research
Institute, Los Angeles,
Accession no. 92.R.8
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa92r8
Processed and cataloged by Beth Ann Guynn; finding aid encoded by Holly Larson with grant funding from the Council on Library
and Information Resources
(CLIR). Guynn expanded the finding aid in 2021.
Scope and Content of Collection
The album of 112 albumen cartes-de-visite and one cabinet card features portraits of Emperor Maximilian, Empress Carlota,
and Napoleon III, as well as
other key figures in the period known as the French intervention in Mexico (1861-1867) when the French invaded Mexico and
ultimately installed Ferdinand
Maximilian Archduke of Austria as Maximilian I Emperor of Mexico. Many portraits are of French and Mexican political and military
leaders such as
General Élie Frédéric Forey, the original commanding general of the French expeditionary corps to Mexico and his successor,
Marshall Achille Bazaine;
and Generals Miguel Negrete, a hero of the first Battle of Puebla and Jesús González Ortega, who played a key role in the
second battle of Puebla.
Mexican heads of state depicted include Agustín de Iturbide I, Emperor of Mexico and seven presidents: Antonio López de Santa
Anna; José Mariano de
Salas; Mariano Arista; Juan Álvarez; Ignacio Commonfort; Miguel Miramón; and Benito Juárez. Photographic reproductions of
portraits of figures related
to the first Mexican Empire and the Mexican War of Independence include Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla; Agustín de Iturbide; José
María Morelos; and Vicente
Guerrero.
Other portraits are of diplomats to Mexico from Austria, England, Spain, and Belgium. Members of the Maximilan's court and
Mexican elites are also
represented. Portraits of cultural figures include novelist and poet Ignacio Manuel Altamirano and journalist and political
and military leader V. Riva
Palacio.
A group of photographs by François Aubert taken at Querétaro, where Maximilian was garrisoned after the French army wihdrew
from Mexico and where he
was eventually executed, includes a posed group portrait of the firing squad taken after Maximilian's execution, and three
images of Maximilian's
bullet-riddled clothing (one of his jacket and two of his vest). Also present is a portrait of Colonel Miguel López, the Mexican
officer and courtier
who betrayed Maximilian at Querétaro, and one of General Miguel Miramón, was executed along with Maximilian and General Tomás
Mejía. Several views of
Querétaro and other sites are also included.
Photographers represented in the album include: G. Malovich; Pierre-Louis Pierson; Agustín Peraire; L. Lebert; Augustin-Aimé-
Joseph Le Jeune; Serge
Lvovich Levitsky; François Aubert; G. Jägermayer; André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri; and Robert J. Bingham.
The album is bound in black leather album with a silver clasp and cover shield; five cabinet card openings are empty. Titles
for the individual images
are from the French captions written below the images, unless otherwise noted. The information on the versos of the mounts,
or under the openings is not
recorded, as access to it is obscured.
Sources consulted:
Debroise, Olivier.
Mexican Suite: A History of Photography in Mexico. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2001.
Planteaux, Serge. "Agustin Peraire: Documenting the Execution of Emperor Maximilian." Weekly transmisison 43-2017.
https://issuu.com/sergeplantureux/docs/pwt_43-2017_agustin_peraire_1867
Wilson-Bareau, J. et al.
Manet: The Execution of Maximilian: Painting, Politics and Censorship. London: The National
Gallery, 1992.
The album was compiled by an unidentified person, most likely of French nationality, during or shortly after the time of the
French Intervention in
Mexico.
Contact
Library Reproductions and
Permissions
.
The collection ws digitized in 2022 and the images are available online:
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/92r8
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Cartes-de-visite -- Mexico -- 19th century
Cartes-de-visite -- France -- 19th century
Cartes-de-visite -- Belgium -- 19th century
Cabinet photographs -France -- 19th century
Executions and executioners -- Mexico -- Querétaro
Albumen prints -- France -- 19th century
Albumen prints -- Mexico -- 19th century
Querétaro (Mexico) -- History -- Siege, 1867
Hidalgo y Costilla, Miguel, 1753-1811 -- Portraits
Guerrero, Vicente, 1782-1831 -- Portraits
Juárez, Benito, 1806-1872 -- Portraits
Iturbide, Agustín de, 1783-1824 -- Portraits
Altamirano, Ignacio Manuel, 1834-1893 -- Portraits
Generals -- Mexico -- Portraits
Carlota, Empress, consort of Maximilian, Emperor of Mexico, 1840-1927 -- Portraits
Bazaine, François-Achille, 1811-1888 -- Portraits
Cartes-de-visite -- Germany -- 19th century
Santa Anna, Antonio López de, 1794?-1876 -- Portraits
Diplomats -- Mexico -- Portraits
Morelos, José María, 1765-1815 -- Portraits
Napoleon III, Emperor of the French, 1808-1873 -- Portraits
López, Miguel, 1825-1891 -- Portraits
Maximilian, Emperor of Mexico, 1832-1867 -- Portraits
Mexico -- Biography -- Portraits
Mexico -- History -- 1821-1861 -- Portraits
France -- History -- Second Empire, 1852-1870 -- Portraits
Studio portraits -- Mexico -- 19th century
Mexico -- History -- European intervention, 1861-1867 -- Portraits
Photograph albums -- Mexico -- 19th century
Studio portraits -- France -- 19th century
Pierson, Pierre-Louis, 1822-1913
Bingham, Robert J.
Lebert, L.
Disdéri, André-Adolphe-Eugène, 1819-1889
Levitsky, 1819-1898
Jägermayer, G.
Peraire, Agustín
Le Jeune, Augustin-Aimée-Joseph, active 1865-1880