The Nadars, a photographic legend

The Nadars

fr

George Sand (1804-1876)

Félix Nadar, around 1900, d'après prise de vue réalisée between 1855 and 1890

Nadar Studio reference album. Vol. 2, Demonstration prints N° 0486
Albumen print from a collodion glass negative, 8.5 x 5.8 cm.
BnF, Prints and Photographs Department, FT 4-NA-235 (2)
© Bibliothèque nationale de France
The bust of George Sand is at the head of the cortège, in the Number One slot. The Good Lady of Nohant didn’t care for the portrayal, but other women of letters are also portrayed this way: all those that Ernest Legouvé, Number 142, is carrying on the tray on his head, for instance. While exaggerated caricature was the norm for actresses, Nadar seemed not to find it appropriate for the female writers here. George Sand fled the sittings planned for the Pantheon, so Nadar had to settle for working from a portrait of her by Couture. Later, he became a close friend of the author of Indiana, Histoire Horace (Horace), and La Dernière Aldini (The Last of the Aldini) and more, devoting long hours to photographing her until the image suited her perfectly. From then on she refused to allow her picture to be taken by anyone else but him. She was the godmother of his son, Paul. Nadar not only dedicated his first collection of short stories, When I Was a Student, to her, he even named one of his siege balloons after her….