Artist Index: Nadar jeune

Cow of the Ayrshire Race. 1856. Varnished salted paper print mounted to board. 20,2 x 28,5 cm (30,5 x 47,3 cm). Photographer's signature stamp and negative number in the negative in lower right, titled "Kuh von der Ayrshire Race" in black ink below the image on the mount, numbered "M 86" in pencil, Établissement Bovin label embossed onto top left corner of the mount.

Adrien Tournachon, the younger brother of Gaspard-Félix Tournachon (better known as Nadar), briefly collaborated with his brother after opening a photographic studio. However, competitive tensions arose in 1855, leading to a court ruling that Félix, the more accomplished photographer, was “the only, the true Nadar,” preventing Adrien from using the name “Nadar jeune.” In 1856 and 1860, Adrien photographed prize-winning livestock at Paris agricultural fairs, utilizing the faster collodion wet plate process instead of the slower paper negatives previously used. At the 1856 fair, he successfully produced over 120 negatives, around 50 of which were printed and included in an album presented to the minister of agriculture and commerce. The photograph offered here is printed using the vernis-cuit technique, where the paper is coated with layers of gelatin and tannin to give it the appearance of varnished leather. – A few light surface scratches, slightly faded in areas, otherwise a rich dark print in very good condition.

Durham cow and caretaker at agricultural fair, Paris. 1856. Salt print varnished with gelatin and tannin. 19,9 x 26,5 cm. Photographer's signature stamp in the negative in lower left, mounted to board, printed title below the image on the mount.

Adrien Tournachon was the younger brother of Gaspard-Félix Tournachon (also known as Nadar). The brothers collaborated briefly after Adrien opened a photographic studio, but competitive tensions arose in 1855. Adrien hoped to continue the studio alone as "Nadar jeune," however a court ruled that Félix, who was the more accomplished photographer, was "the only, the true Nadar". In 1856 and again in 1860, Adrien made a series of photographs of prize-winning livestock at the agricultural fairs in Paris. He used the more rapid collodion wet plate process rather than the slower paper negative process he had previously employed to photograph animals that rarely stood still. At the 1856 livestock show, Tournachon succeeded in making more than 120 negatives, and printed circa 50 of them to be included in an album presented to the minister of agriculture and commerce in July 1856.
The photograph offered here is printed in the technique known as vernis-cuit, in which the paper was coated with layers of gelatin and tannin to give the surface the appearance of varnished leather.