Carte-de-visite portrait of Emperor Maximilian: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

Carte-de-visite of Emperor Maximilian of Mexico shown in three quarter portrait. He is standing and facing the camera with his right hand resting on the back of a side chair and his left hand hanging at his side near his sword. He has a full beard and mustache and is wearing a military dress uniform with several pins on his left breast and wide fringed epaulettes. Printed below the image is the text, "Photographie, Bailey, Paris. / MAXIMILIAN."

The photograph is housed in the album 2017.30. The album page has a triple-lined, gold border framing the print. Handwritten in graphite inside the bottom border of the printed frame of the album page is the text "Maximilian".

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1864; printed later
• Photograph by: Andrew Burgess, American, 1837 - 1908
• Printed by: Bailey, French
• Subject of: Emperor Maximilian I, Austrian, 1832 - 1867
• Owned by: Emily Howland, American, 1827 - 1929
• Type: cartes-de-visite
• Type: albumen prints
• Type: portraits
• Medium: albumen and silver on photographic paper on card mount
• Dimensions: H x W (Image): 3 1/2 × 2 1/16 in. (8.9 × 5.3 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W (Image and Mount): 4 × 2 7/16 in. (10.1 × 6.2 cm)
• Place depicted: Mexico, Latin America, North and Central America
• Place printed: France, Europe
• Place depicted: Mexico, Latin America, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Colonialism
• Topic: French colonialism
• Topic: International affairs
• Topic: Photography
• Object number: 2017.30.29
• Credit Line: Collection of the National Museum of African American History and Culture shared with the Library of Congress
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The displayed image also has an explicit CC0 designation. The underlying object's rights statement is: Public domain Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.