[In Bayard's Studio]

about 1845

Medium

Salted paper print

Dimensions

23.5 × 17.5 cm

Status

In Museum Collection

Collect24 Art ID

C24-360334

Hippolyte Bayard is one of the earliest photographers to explore self-portraiture using a camera. The Getty Museum’s collection includes seven of Bayard’s self-portraits (see [84.XO.968.1](https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/64858/hippolyte-bayard-self-portrait-in-front-of-garden-french-june-1845/), [84.XO.968.166](https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/64876/hippolyte-bayard-self-portrait-in-the-garden-french-1847/), [84.XO.968.20](https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/101944/hippolyte-bayard-self-portrait-in-garden-french-about-1845-1849/)).\* While Bayard is not present in this image, it too can be considered a self-portrait of sorts as it offers the viewer a window onto his artistic world. The seemingly casual composition shows a make-shift photographic studio with wood doors leaning up against a brick wall to form the principal back wall. The floor is rough; it isn’t clear whether it is made of tile, wood, or simply dirt. Bayard featured the tools of his trade—glass bottles filled with chemicals, a beaker, a funnel, a dark canvas backdrop, and a light curtain or coverlet as well as some of his favorite subjects—three plaster casts and a porcelain vase. T…