Prince Jérôme 1860s

Editor: This is André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri’s photograph, "Prince Jérôme," from the 1860s, a silver print using a daguerreotype. I find its formality striking. It’s so posed. What historical context is important for understanding this portrait? Curator: Think about photography’s role in the 1860s. It was becoming more accessible, democratizing portraiture, but also, as Susan Sontag wrote, transforming experiences into images. How might this new accessibility affect representations of power and class? Here we see a member of the Bonaparte family. Consider how a photo like this, endlessly reproducible, alters the traditional image of aristocracy and the very notion of social hierarchies. Editor: So, the accessibility of photography challenges traditional power dynamics. I hadn’t thought about it that way. Did Disdéri intend to critique this figure or his power through this work? Curator: It's difficult to assign intentionality with certainty, but his studio also photographed working-class people. Disdéri benefitted from this expansion and appeal to a diverse clientele, highlighting both photography's democratizing potential and the developing visual economies of representation that served to underscore social division. How might different audiences interpret this image? Editor: Wealth and access are now a commodity, available for purchase… at least through photograph, thereby highlighting who has power and who does not. Interesting. Curator: Precisely. This photo becomes part of a larger conversation about access, representation, and the shifting landscapes of social and political power in 19th-century France. Editor: It is powerful to understand the image’s intersectional narratives relating to gender, race, identity, class and politics of that time. Thanks!