Untitled (Portrait of a Man) (1879): Art, History and Details

Untitled (Portrait of a Man) (1879) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Etienne Carjat (French, 1828–1906).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Celebrated Parisian portrait photographer Etienne Carjat established his reputation through celebrity portraiture but his mainstay was images of middle- and upper-class sitters like this couple, presumably husband and wife. Seeking images more permanent than those made on paper, they paid extra to have their portraits vitrified on enamel. The process yields exquisitely detailed, durable images that appear as fresh as the day they were delivered to the sitters’ hands.

Object facts

• Title: Untitled (Portrait of a Man)
• Date: 1879
• Creator attribution: Etienne Carjat (French, 1828–1906)
• Culture: France
• Type: Photograph
• Technique: Photograph on enamel in copper alloy frame with velvet liner
• Dimensions: Overall: 7.7 x 6.2 cm (3 1/16 x 2 7/16 in.)
• Collection: PH - French 19th Century
• Department: Photography
• Accession number: 2017.8.1

Collection credit

John Cook Memorial Fund

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.