Anonymous French Photographer

6 quarter-plate daguerreotypes, each with a manuscript label on the reverse, annotated, dated, and inscribed by Terral in ink, in a contemporary gilt frame, the sitters' identities annotated in a modern hand in ink on the original paper backing, 1848-49

Acquired from Brigitte & Marc Pagneux, Peintures - Sculptures - Photographies du XIX Siècle, Paris, 1991

Stanley B. Burns, Mirror Mirror: The Burns Collection Daguerreotypes (New York: The Burns Archive Press, 2012), pls. 147-49

Stanley B. Burns, Forgotten Marriage: The Painted Tintype & The Decorative Frame, 1860-1910: A Lost Chapter in American Portraiture (New York: The Burns Archive Press, 1995), p. 12 (detail)

This series of six quarter-plate daguerreotypes framed together is simply remarkable. Each plate is rendered with impressive clarity and a high level of detail. Great care was taken in arranging each portrait tableau and in composing the narrative sequence. The reverse of each plate has a small manuscript label with identifying information in black ink, presumably by Abel Terral. Images of these labels are available upon request from the Photographs department. The condition of the plates range from very good to excellent. As is visible in the catalogue illustration, there is a beautiful, colorful band of tarnish on each plate at the mat edges; this is heaviest on the leftmost and rightmost plates. There are a few small, scattered rust-colored spots on the 2nd plate from the right. The leftmost daguerreotype has vertical linear scratches, notably in the central potion of the image; the details of this plate are slightly less legible and it has a warmer tonality overall. The mat is slightly age-appropriately darkened and there is a pen-point-sized dark deposit near the lower edge. The reverse each but the leftmost plate is affixed to the mat with remnants of contemporary labels that have been used as adhesive. The leftmost plate is affixed to the mat with two strips of old but modern tape on the reverse. The labels at the edges of the second plate from the left have been expertly reinforced. There are a few small losses to the gilt at the center of the frame, but it is otherwise clean and very sturdy. The old blue paper frame backing on the reverse is still present, although there are a number of small losses and tears. There are also modern annotations in an unidentified hand in blue ink on the blue paper frame backing.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Extant multiple-image, narrative daguerreotypes such as this unique series of six quarter-plates, are exceedingly rare.  At the time of this writing, no other comparable series is believed to have been offered at auction in recent memory. 

Early photographers utilized traditions long established by artists working in other media.  The beginning decades of photography were an intense time of cross-pollination between visual arts, a concept that has been explored in depth by many scholars.  Portrait photographers borrowed compositional techniques from painters by showing sitters with personal or occupational objects to provide a narrative.  Further, double portraits (of, perhaps, husband and wife) might mirror and reference each other in clothing, pose, or props.   In the present six photographs, the deliberate sequencing of separate images within a frame is highly unique and provides a remarkable amount of insight into the subjects’ lives.

The inscriptions on the reverse of this framed series suggest that the identities of the sitters are husband and wife, Pierre Louis Alexandre Abel Terral (1811-1886) and Catherine Célina Porion (1817-1904).  Born and raised in Amiens in northern France, Abel Terral moved to Paris as a young man to study painting.  In Alexandre-Quentin Bauchart’s posthumously-published memoir Études et souvenirs sur la deuxième république et le second empire (1848-1870), Terral is described as having been one of the best students of Paul Delaroche, who was a leading advocate of the daguerreotype since its invention (Paris, 1902, p. 191).  From 1850 to 1870, Terral is noted as a copyist at the Musée du Louvre, and in 1868 his manual De la Restauration des tableaux was published.  Although there appear to be few surviving examples of his work, Terral exhibited widely during his lifetime.  Beginning in 1839, Terral was featured in at least 8 Salons at the Musée du Louvre.  Catherine herself is believed to have been an artista pittura, although very little is known of her today. 

In this series of daguerreotypes, Terral is depicted in three phases of his career.  Reading the series from left to right, in the first plate he is the rakish young artist studying painting; in the second plate he is the art historian; and in the third plate he is the painter and copyist.  Catherine Porion is also shown three times; touchingly, one of the photographs shows her seated and devotedly holding a portrait of her artist husband.

The manuscript labels on the reverse of each plate are as follows, from left to right:

‘A. Terral. Peintre d’histoire en 1848’

‘A ma petite fille Noemie Terral au jour de l’anniversaire de sa naissance 24 8ter [?] 1854 5 ans A. Terral’

‘A. Terral en 1849 attaché au Palais de Versailles en 1857’

‘Celina Porion de Thièvres femme Terral 1848’

‘Celina Porion de Thièvres femme Terral 1849’

‘Celina Porion de Thièvres femme A. Terral 1848’