[Photographie] Portrait photographique d'Alexandre Dumas

Original albumen photograph mounted on card by Gustave Le Gray representing Alexandre Dumas with beard in white trousers. Deep blacks and beautiful contrast.
Photo mounted on heavy paper. Very fine condition. As the Legray house was acquired by the Alophe house, the print is probably slightly later. Furthermore, while the first printing shows the writer's feet and ground, here he appears in a medallion that cuts him at the calf. The printing can be dated around 1870.
On verso, the author's name in manuscript and a stamp: Ancienne maison Legray et Cie, Alophe Succr. 35 Boulevart des Capucines.
Very fine full-length portrait of the writer.
About this portrait, which he reproduces on the front page of his magazine Monte-Cristo dated January 5, 1860, Alexandre Dumas writes: "Des qualités de ce portrait, je ne veux qu'affirmer la première, la plus essentielle : la ressemblance. C'est à vous, chers lecteurs, de voir si jamais la photographie est allée plus loin. C'est qu'aussi dois-je vous dire que je ne me suis pas laissé guider par le hasard dans le choix du photographe, et qu'en M. Le Gray j'ai tout simplement rencontré un artiste de la meilleure venue. Allez le trouver, m'avaient dit d'excellents juges en matière photographique, et vous serez content. Je suis allé le trouver, et j'ai été émerveillé. J'ai compris - ce qu'après avoir fait faire cent portraits par cent photographes différents, vous ne soupçonnez peut-être pas encore, chers lecteurs - j'ai compris que Le Gray comme photographe est à la fois un artiste et un savant." ["Of the qualities of this portrait, I wish only to affirm the first, the most essential: the likeness. It is for you, dear readers, to see if photography has ever gone further. I must also tell you that I did not let myself be guided by chance in choosing the photographer, and that in M. Le Gray I simply encountered an artist of the finest quality. Go find him, excellent judges in photographic matters had told me, and you will be pleased. I went to find him, and I was amazed. I understood - what after having had a hundred portraits taken by a hundred different photographers, you perhaps do not yet suspect, dear readers - I understood that Le Gray as a photographer is both an artist and a scientist."]