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The image shows the upper body of a man sitting upright, centered in the frame. His facial features include pronounced lines and wrinkles, a wide grin, and large eyes. The man has thinning hair that is combed back, and a prominent mustache. He is wearing a light-colored shirt that appears slightly disheveled, with the collar open. Several hands are seen around him; one is holding a metal apparatus around his head, which is connected to wires appearing to manipulate his facial expression. The background is a plain, smooth wall with a sepia-toned finish.
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The image shows the upper body of a man sitting upright, centered in the frame. His facial features include pronounced lines and wrinkles, a wide grin, and large eyes. The man has thinning hair that is combed back, and a prominent mustache. He is wearing a light-colored shirt that appears slightly disheveled, with the collar open. Several hands are seen around him; one is holding a metal apparatus around his head, which is connected to wires appearing to manipulate his facial expression. The background is a plain, smooth wall with a sepia-toned finish.

National Gallery of Art · Photograph

A false, incomplete expression of agreeable surprise, or admiration

Guillaume-Benjamin-Amant Duchenne (de Boulogne)

Date
1854-1856, printed 1862
Medium
albumen silver print
Dimensions
image: 21.8 × 16 cm (8 9/16 × 6 5/16 in.) mount: 40.3 × 27.5 cm (15 7/8 × 10 13/16 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Accession number
2015.52.10
Credit line
W. Bruce and Delaney H. Lundberg Fund, in Honor of the 25th Anniversary of Photography at the National Gallery of Art
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. 33.; lower center-right of mount in black letterpress: Duchenne (de Boulogne), phot.

NGA object ID 169276. 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.