Nadar [Gaspard-Félix Tournachon] (French, 1820-1910). Salted paper print from wet collodion negative, 1855.

Nadar and Alexandre Dumas (author of The Three Musketeers, published in 1844) became friends in the 1840s, a period when the photographer was working as a journalist, novelist, and caricaturist. In 1855 the two men dreamed of writing a play together, but ultimately they collaborated only on this portrait, made in November of that year. Seated casually, hands folded comfortably on his cane, Dumas addressed Nadar with a direct and lively expression. The portrait reflects Nadar's ability to evoke a sitter's natural personality.

John L. Severance Fund 1983.198
© The Cleveland Museum of Art