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The image shows a seated woman with her upper body visible. She is looking slightly upward with defined facial features, including pronounced cheekbones and creases around her eyes. Her dark hair is neatly brushed back, and she is wearing a dress with a patterned fabric, high collar, decorative lace collar, buttons down the front, and a ribbon detail. Another person is partially visible behind her, appearing to hold a metal instrument near her head. The background is dark and nondescript.
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The image shows a seated woman with her upper body visible. She is looking slightly upward with defined facial features, including pronounced cheekbones and creases around her eyes. Her dark hair is neatly brushed back, and she is wearing a dress with a patterned fabric, high collar, decorative lace collar, buttons down the front, and a ribbon detail. Another person is partially visible behind her, appearing to hold a metal instrument near her head. The background is dark and nondescript.

National Gallery of Art · Photograph

Attention, attentive gaze (left); Painful attention (right)

Guillaume-Benjamin-Amant Duchenne (de Boulogne)

Date
1854-1856, printed 1862
Medium
albumen silver print
Dimensions
image: 22.8 × 16.6 cm (9 × 6 9/16 in.) mount: 40.3 × 27.6 cm (15 7/8 × 10 7/8 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Accession number
2015.52.21
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. 27.; lower center-right of mount in black letterpress: Duchenne (de Boulogne), phot.

NGA object ID 169273. 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.