Nadar (Gaspard Félix Tournachon)
Alexandre Dumas père

CultureFrench
Titles
  • Alexandre Dumas père
Date1855
MediumSalted paper print from glass negative
DimensionsImage: 9 3/4 × 7 7/16 in. (24.8 × 18.9 cm)
Mount: 12 15/16 × 9 in. (32.9 × 22.9 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by the Brown Foundation Accessions Endowment Fund, The Manfred Heiting Collection
Object number2004.613
Current Location
The Nancy and Rich Kinder Building
Gallery 208
Exposé

Explore Further

Department
Photography
Object Type
Description

As a journalist, caricaturist, political agitator, balloonist, and novelist, the charismatic Nadar was well-positioned to befriend many of the most important cultural figures in mid-19th-century France. His most engaging and insightful photographs portrayed those with whom he shared artistic passions or leftist political views and those he could set at ease before the camera with affable conversation. Among his idols since childhood was Alexandre Dumas, the famed author of The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, whose first novel had been published by Nadar’s father.


ProvenanceHotel des Ventes, Reims; Alain Paviot, Paris.

Bought by Manfred Heiting from Galerie Octant on 12/14/1987.
Exhibition History"Fame and Photography", J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, 1993; "Les Annees Creatrices: 1854-1860", Musee d'Orsay, Paris, 1994; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1995.

"Portraits from the Manfred Heiting Collection", Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, February 28–May 2, 2005.

"The Marzio Years: Transforming the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1982–2010," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, October 25, 2020–January 10, 2021.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Marked in pencil, verso, top left: "Alex. Dumas"
Circular stamp impressed at center of mount, bottom: "Nadar a Cie 113 R. St. Lazare"
Recto lower right of image, signed in ink: "Nadar / 113 S Lazar"

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.

[The Mime Jean-Charles Deburau Interprets Pierrot]
Nadar (Gaspard Félix Tournachon)
1854–1855
Salted paper prints from glass negatives
2023.299.1-.11
Catacombs, Paris
Nadar (Gaspard Félix Tournachon)
1862
Albumen silver print from glass negative
2023.473
Catacombs, Paris
Nadar (Gaspard Félix Tournachon)
1862
Albumen silver print from glass negative
2023.472
Sewers, Paris
Nadar (Gaspard Félix Tournachon)
1865
Albumen silver print from glass negative
2023.475
Catacombs, Paris
Nadar (Gaspard Félix Tournachon)
1862
Albumen silver print from glass negative
2023.474
[André Gill]
Nadar (Gaspard Félix Tournachon)
late 19th Century
Albumen silver print from glass negative
77.280
Marie-Berthe Fayolle, Théâtre Français
Nadar (Gaspard Félix Tournachon)
late 19th Century
Albumen silver print from glass negative
77.278
Mlle. Feyghin, Théâtre Français
Nadar (Gaspard Félix Tournachon)
late 19th Century
Albumen silver print from glass negative
77.279
Mme. George Sand
Nadar (Gaspard Félix Tournachon)
1864
Albumen silver print from glass negative
77.281
Louis-Francois Veuillot
Nadar (Gaspard Félix Tournachon)
1856
Albumen silver print from glass negative
77.282
Gustave Doré
Nadar (Gaspard Félix Tournachon)
1860–1861
Salted paper print
2004.611
George Sand
Nadar (Gaspard Félix Tournachon)
1864
Albumen silver print
2004.612