AIC-PMG Winter Meeting 2025

Virginia Oldoini (1837-1899), later known as Countess de Castiglione, was born into an aristocratic Florentine family, and quickly became recognized for her beauty and intelligence. After successes in the local court, she was sent to France to aid in a political scheme to unify Italy under the auspices of Napoleon III. Instructed to “succeed by whatever means you wish - but succeed,” the Countess recognized photography as a means to establish a glamorous and mysterious persona. She frequently visited Pierre-Louis Pierson (1822-1913) of the Mayer & Pierson studio, the leading society photographers of Paris, and together they produced over 400 portraits. The Countess took an active role both in staging the photos and altering negatives with the photographer and painter to assert an imaginary reality. Successful images were elaborately colored by hand, to the extent that they could be mistaken for paintings.

An example in The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art collection (Kansas City, MO) was studied in depth during preparation for the exhibition, Still Performing: Costume, Gesture, and Expression in 19th Century European Photography. Pierre Apraxine and Xavier Demange’s extensive research of the Countess’s life and photographs, published in La Divine Comtesse: Photographs of the Countess de Castiglione (2000), served as a ‘field guide’ in our exploration.

Apraxine describes the multi-step editing procedure employed by Aquilin Schad (ca. 1815-1866), one of Mayer & Pierson’s many painters. The process began with the Countess drawing or writing instructions on a proof print to convey her vision. The painter executed these changes on an enlarged print produced with a solar enlargement device. The edited print was then re-photographed, printed, and finally hand-colored to be presented as the finished work. While many hand-colorists worked for the studio, the examples signed by Schad feature brushwork and a high level of execution similar to that seen on the Nelson-Atkins example, prompting the question: Was this photograph produced by Schad using his elaborate process?

We were able to find a high-quality digital image of an unpainted print from the unaltered, first-stage negative, and comparison of the two images revealed dramatic compositional changes. Detection of silver by XRF analysis in the area of the print beyond the frame of the original negative would suggest the addition was made in the inter-positive stage, then photographically printed for the final version. At the time of this writing, a conclusive result of XRF analysis is pending. Observation under magnification showed the use of stippling, or layering of very fine brush strokes to blend colors, a technique seen in examples signed by Schad. Without studying other signed works, it is not possible to definitively attribute this work to Schad; however, the clues identified during this study are consistent with accounts of his practice and imply the need for future research to reach a definitive attribution.

"From the earliest era of photography, there was a desire to record and receive photographic images instantly. Edwin Land fulfilled this with his significant invention – Polaroid photography.

Edwin Land did extensive experimentation to come up with a successful instant photograph. In 2006 Baker Library at the Harvard Business School received the business archives of the Polaroid Corporation. A highlight of the archives are the research and development records, complete with experimental prints and documentation.

Weissman Preservation Center (WPC) photograph conservators and Baker Library staff have worked collaboratively on the preservation of this important collection. The experimental prints often have unknown compositions and vulnerabilities and there are important ethical considerations for conservation intervention and instrumental analysis. This presentation will provide an overview of some of the lessons learned over almost 20 years of working with this collection and will highlight exhibition planning for the recently opened exhibition, “From Concept to Product: Meroë Morse and Polaroid’s Culture of Art and Innovation, 1945–1969”, on display at the Baker Library through Spring 2025."