CÉLINE CHÂTELAIN 1833-1908 - NANCY - Lot 352

CÉLINE CHÂTELAIN 1833-1908 - NANCY Doctor Simonin and his students, one playing patient, 1866. Photograph. Albumen print mounted on cardboard, signed and dated in the image, captioned below the image and dedicated in ink on the back. Image: 42.5 x 54 cm; mount: 66.5 x 78.7 cm Nancy's first female photographer, Céline Châtelain moved to the city in April 1846 at just 13 years of age, supported by her father. Initially using the daguerreotype, she later turned to salted and then albumen paper. An advertisement in the newspaper "L'Espérance" already praised her talents, stating: "She works in all weathers". Moving to 20 rue des Dominicains in 1856, she set up a full-fledged photographic studio, complete with sets and furniture, which became one of Nancy's busiest after 1860. Her production then diversified, and she produced views of the city's buildings, without abandoning portraits, which remained her specialty. The large photograph shown here features Doctor Edmond Simonin (1812-1884), his colleagues and students. A Nancy figure and pioneer of modern surgery, he was one of the founders of the medical society in 1844 and was one of the first in France to use chloroform for general anesthesia. Bibliography Christian Debize, "Photographes et photographies d'Art à Nancy", 1983, 122p.