Full-Length Portrait of Ángela Peralta
Item
- Title
- Full-Length Portrait of Ángela Peralta
- Rights
- Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Fair use.
- Creator
- Unknown creator.
- Date
- c. 1870-1880
- Description
-
This photograph created between 1870 and 1880 captures a full-length portrait of Mexican operatic prima donna Ángela Peralta (Mexican, 6 July 1845-30 August 1883). Peralta was also known as the "Mexican Nightingale" and achieved fame in her home country and Europe for her melodic soprano vocals. Throughout her lifetime, she performed in roles such as "Norma's" Norma, Violetta in "La Traviata," and Leonora in "Il Trovatore," among others.
This albumen print features Peralta during a period of her career in which she created her own operatic touring company. In the photo, she faces the front at a slight angle, wearing an ornate, darkly colored off-the-shoulder gown adorned with lacework on the bodice and ruffled tiers of fabric on the skirt.
French photographer André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri patented the carte-de-visite medium in 1854. The technique included albumen prints that were mounted on a card, and they rose in popularity during the mid-nineteenth century. They were especially popular for their frequent celebrity subjects and were often traded during special occasions or kept as collectibles. As such, the photograph itself reflects Peralta's fame at the time. - Format
- Photographic albumen print on carte de visite mount.
- Publisher
- Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA.
- Contributor
- Lindsey Cillis
- Identifier
-
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. LOT 3112, no. 169 [P&P].
- Subject
- Opera; opera singers; prima donna; Mexican celebrities; Ángela Peralta; nineteenth-century music.
- Source
- JPEG file. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540. Unknown photographer. 10/10/2023. https://www.loc.gov/resource/ds.00893/?st=image.
- Item sets
- Le Prime Donne-Lindsey C.
