[Photographie] Portrait photographique de Maupassant

Original anf fairly large cabinet card photograph. Maupassant was 38 years old when he sat before Nadar's lens in July 1888 (though some sources give 1890 as the date). Two photographs are known from this sitting, one showing his right profile and the other his left profile, as with the present example.

A photograph mounted on Nadar's studio card with his stamp below. The verso bears various advertisements relating to Nadar.

Guy de Maupassant was always reluctant toward photography, even hostile to the public dissemination of his image. Very few photographs of the writer exist, as he rarely sat for photographs and generally only for private purposes, but Félix Nadar was both an acquaintance and a friend within his circle. "I made it an absolute rule not to let my image be published if I can help it" (Autograph manuscript note, undated, reproduced in the Pléiade album, p.8). This portrait by Nadar has remained the writer's most celebrated photographic likeness.

Photographs of the writer remain exceedingly rare on the market, particularly in cabinet card format.