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The image shows a man facing the camera directly from the chest up. He has a furrowed brow and distinctive features suggesting age or life experience. His hair is sparse and combed back, revealing much of his scalp. He wears a loose, open-collared shirt. To his right, an arm extends into the frame holding a metal rod touching his forehead. On the lower right, a dark, bulky apparatus with visible mechanical components is positioned. The background is a simple, muted backdrop.
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The image shows a man facing the camera directly from the chest up. He has a furrowed brow and distinctive features suggesting age or life experience. His hair is sparse and combed back, revealing much of his scalp. He wears a loose, open-collared shirt. To his right, an arm extends into the frame holding a metal rod touching his forehead. On the lower right, a dark, bulky apparatus with visible mechanical components is positioned. The background is a simple, muted backdrop.

National Gallery of Art · Photograph

A relaxed face (left); Profound attention (right)

Guillaume-Benjamin-Amant Duchenne (de Boulogne)

Date
1854-1856, printed 1862
Medium
albumen silver print
Dimensions
image: 22.3 × 16.2 cm (8 3/4 × 6 3/8 in.) mount: 40.3 × 27.4 cm (15 7/8 × 10 13/16 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Accession number
2015.52.17
Credit line
Eugene L. and Marie-Louise Garbáty Fund
Time span
1851 to 1875
Department
CPH
Original NGA record Wikidata

Portfolio and series

Portfolio
Mécanisme de la Physionomie (The Mechanism of Human Facial Expression)

Subjects and terms

  • French
  • portrait
  • albumen silver print
  • Facial expression
  • Science
  • Electrical
Provenance

Alphonse Bertillon, Paris; by descent to Pascal Vincent-Bertillon, Paris; NGA purchase (through Denis Canguilhem, Paris), 2015.

Inscription

upper center of mount in black letterpress: Électro-Physiologie Photographique. / Fig. 9.; lower center-right of mount in black letterpress: Duchenne (de Boulogne), phot.

NGA object ID 169263. Collection metadata is reproduced under CC0. This work is included because its NGA published-image record is marked open access; visitors should recheck the source record before substantial reuse.