Quenedy Physionotrace Portrait

Physionotrace portrait of an unknown women by Edme Quenedy, attractive and excellent copper print with beautiful aquatint tones in brown and a strong platemark, framed in the original circular wooden frame with a diameter of 10cm, handwritten inscription on the back. Invented by Gilles-Louis Chrétien in 1786, this kind of portrait is considered to be a precursor of photography, because the artist used a combination of a camera obscura and a pantograph to produce life-like images. In 1788, shortly after this invention, Chrétien founded a very successful portrait studio in Paris together with Edme Quenedey. The latter established his own portrait studio in Paris, which was also very successful. The portrait offered was made around 1800 and can be identified by the inscription engraved beneath the portrait: ‘Dess. au Physionotrace et Gravé par Quenedey rue neuve-des-petits-champs no. 15. à Paris’. Since Physionotrace copper prints were only made in Paris for a short period in history between 1785 and 1810 they therefore rare and sought-after collectables.