Euphrosyne Parepa-Rosa (1836-1874) 1869 - 1874

Editor: Here we have an albumen print, a photograph taken by Jeremiah Gurney between 1869 and 1874. It's a portrait of Euphrosyne Parepa-Rosa, the opera singer. The tones are lovely, warm sepia. She’s very formally posed and looks so serious! What do you see in this piece, beyond the surface? Curator: Ah, yes, a formal pose but caught just a hair’s breadth from… what? Smiling? Scowling? Perhaps a moment's reverie. Makes me wonder what music she was thinking of at that very moment. These photographic portraits, even in their formality, aimed to capture something essential about the sitter, you know? Gurney was a master of light, and it seems like he wanted to play with that reflective material of her dress to capture depth, form. It’s a far cry from a selfie, don’t you think? Editor: Definitely more considered than a selfie! The sheen of the dress is amazing – almost metallic. Do you think the rigid posing affected the perception of people back then? Curator: Oh, undoubtedly. There’s an aspirational quality; these images constructed identity as much as reflected it. Think of the theatricality of her profession juxtaposed with the nascent and rigid nature of photography at that time. Did that impact what the Victorians would think of "celebrity"? Editor: That makes a lot of sense. Seeing her through that lens, both literally and figuratively, really shifts my understanding. Curator: Mine too! I think that's the magic: artworks keep teaching us to listen, to wonder about that moment just *before* the click.