This photograph traditionally has been associated with Scènes de la vie de Bohème, stories by Henri Murger based on the lives of his friends. The character Mimi, a girl of easy virtue, owed much to Murger's girlfriend Lucille, who died of consumption. Although we cannot know whether this unique print portrays Lucille, the easy attitude of the woman's pale thin body and her beguiling regard confirm her membership in the sorority of Mimis.
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Title:[Seated Model, Partially Draped]
Artist:Nadar (French, Paris 1820–1910 Paris)
Date:1856–59
Medium:Salted paper print from glass negative
Dimensions:Image: 11.2 x 10.5 cm (4 7/16 x 4 1/8 in.) Mount: 12.2 x 10.8 cm (4 13/16 x 4 1/4 in.)
Classification:Photographs
Credit Line:Gilman Collection, Purchase, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Gift, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 2005
Accession Number:2005.100.42
Inscription: Signed in ink on print, recto BR: "Nadar // 113 St. Lazare"
[...]; [Gérard Lévy, Paris]; [Graphics International]; Gilman Paper Company Collection, New York, July 30, 1980
Philadelphia Museum of Art. "The Second Empire, 1852-1870: Art in France under Napolean III," October 1, 1978–November 26, 1978.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Waking Dream: Photography's First Century, Selections from the Gilman Paper Company Collection," May 25–July 4, 1993.
Edinburgh International Festival, Edinburgh, Scotland. "The Waking Dream: Photography's First Century, Selections from the Gilman Paper Company Collection," August 7–October 2, 1993.
Musée d'Orsay. "Nadar," June 7–September 11, 1994.
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. "The Waking Dream: Photography's First Century, Selections from the Gilman Paper Company Collection," June 19–September 11, 1994.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Photography from the Gilman Paper Company Collection," February 26–May 23, 1999.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Master Photographs from the Gilman Collection: A Landmark Acquisition," June 28–September 6, 2005.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Framing a Century: Master Photographers, 1840–1940," June 3–September 1, 2008.
Moulin, Jean-Marie. The Second Empire, 1852–1870: Art in France Under Napolean III. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1978. p. 928.
Apraxine, Pierre. Photographs from the Collection of the Gilman Paper Company. Reeds Springs, Mo.: White Oak Press, 1985. pl. 20.
Hambourg, Maria Morris, Pierre Apraxine, Malcolm Daniel, Virginia Heckert, and Jeff L. Rosenheim. The Waking Dream: Photography's First Century, Selections from the Gilman Paper Company Collection. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1993. no. 60.
Hambourg, Maria Morris, Françoise Heilbrun, and Paul Néagu. Nadar. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1995. no. 63.
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![[Seated Model, Partially Draped], Nadar (French, Paris 1820–1910 Paris), Salted paper print from glass negative](/Rodan/dist/svg/rolling-0.9s-30px.svg)
