Beauty by Millet
SOLD February 2001 |
Quarter plate daguerreotype by Désiré François Millet, Paris. Hand-tinted and gilt, housed in original gilt and silver passe-partout mount with Millet's Rue Montesquieu studio label on reverse. Overall dimensions of mount 5.5 x 5 inches (14x13 cm).
Millet's studio had one of the highest reputations in Paris. In this daguerreotype he depicts a beautiful woman with a subtle smile on her lips and a suggestion of motion captured in her eyes. Skin tones form a smooth gradation and are complemented by very careful but not heavy tinting which seems to involve two colors and melds well with the inherent tonality of the plate. Gilt has also been applied to the sitter's broach and hanging chain. Millet's engraved studio label lists a long string of official appointments and reproduces six or seven prize medals including a gold medal from London in 1854.
