Figure 1.--This portrait of the De Lesseps family was taken about 1888-89 by Nadar. Despite the hair bows on all the younger children, several are in fact boys. The rifles held by two children almost assures us that they are boys, but as explained in the accompanying text, there are many other reasons as well. Click on the image for an enlrged view.

This portrait of the De Lesseps family was taken about 1888-89 by Nadar. Despite the hair bows on all the younger children, several are in fact boys. The rifles held by two children almost assures us that they are boys, but as explained in the accompanying text, there are many other reasons as well. A reader writes about one of the takes, "Left of the father: Jacques Right of the father Robert The child on her mother's lap is Gisèle Right of the mother are Ferdinande, Paul and Marie-Solange Behind are Betrand, Marie Consuelo, Marie Eugenie Helene, Ismael and Mathieu." As can be imagined, Nadar had his hands full with this lot. Small children are a delight to photograph, but a group is really a challenge. The little children really get figity. Someone is always doing something to spoil the photograph. And all the shots Nadar took are testimony to what he went through. Unfortunately we only have thumbnail versions of the different takes. Hopefully we will eventually find larger, more detailed images.

Figure 2.--As can be imagined, Nadar had his hands full with this lot. Small children are a delight to photograph, but a group is really a challenge. The little children really get figity. Someone is always doing something to spoil the photograph. And all the shots Nadar took are testimony to what he went through. Notice Paul with his hands on his hips, a clear sign of inspirtation.

Nadar Studio

Several portraits of the Vicomte and his family was taken at the Nadar studio. A relative tells us, "There is another twist to the story. The photo of the children with the black dickeys (scarfs) is the one on the official French Ministry of Culture Website. They are downloading gradually all of the Atelier Nadar collection. Anne-Marie Bernard collaborated with Paul Nadar in a publiction called The World of Proust, which was acclaimed at the time as a masterpiece of Biography and photography. After Paul Nadar's death, she donated the entire collection of the Atelier Nadar to the French Ministry of Culture. There were about 400,000 glass plates etc. So far there are only 25,000 on the website. I have trawled 5,000 so far, and found the 'Black Dickey' photgraph there. I have also found a few later photos of some of the children. I am still trawling hoping to find the other 'unadulterated'? photo." [Autard]

Figure 3.-- A reader writes, "Left of the father: Jacques Right of the father Robert The child on her mother's lap is Gisèle Right of the mother are Ferdinande, Paul and Marie-Solange Behind are Betrand, Marie Consuelo, Marie Eugenie Helene, Ismael and Mathieu."

Date

This portrait of the De Lesseps family was taken about 1888-89 by Nadar. We do not have the precise date, but it can be estimated from the age of the children. This is an interesting period. In America the big sensation was Little Lord Fauntleroy suits. Many other small boys wore kilt suits rather than dresses. Neith of these fashions seem to have affected the delLesseps.

The Children

We have developed some specific details on the children to help identify them. This may be of assistance to readers as ot is a little complicated identifying the children in these group portraits. The de Lesseps had an impressive family of 11 children who survived into adulthood. One child died in infancy. The two oldest childrn were boys. The oldest child Mathieu was born in 1870. Ismaël born in 1871 was the next child. There were six boys in all. The oldest girl was Ferdinande born in 1872. Ther youngest Child was Gisèle born in 1885, Ferdinand's 80th year. Nine of the 11 children are in figure 1 on the previous page and we believe that 5 of the children in the photograph here are boys (figure 1). Our guess is that in addition to Paul and Robert, the child on the far right, the child on his father's lap, and the child held by the mother are boys.

Figure 4.--

Hair Bows

Despite the hair bows on all the younger children, several are in fact boys. Asthey are akso wearing dresses, this rather complicates identifification. We note younger boys in America wearing and other countries wearing hair bows as well. This was fairly common in the 19th century, at least for very young boys. But some of the boys here are older than the age we note boys wearing hir bows in America. we think hair bows for boys was a little more commin in France than other countries.

Clothing

We see the two oldest boys (Mattieu and Ishmael) wearing conservative suits. Bertrand wears some sort of school uniform. All of the younger children, both boys and girls seem to be wear simple dresses. This of course made clothing them simple. The younger children just wore the dresses and frocks that their older sibling wore. Its a little difficult to make out the derails of the dresses, but they seem to have shoulder ribbons symbolizing leading strings. The younger children seem to have pleated dresses while the skirts of the older girls do not look pleated. Boys still wore dresses in the 19th century, especially younger boys. Some of the boys here are older than normally wore dresses in America. We are less sure about France, but think it was also not very common in Feance. A factor here was school. Boys did not go to school wearing dresses. The Delesseps family, however, were wealthy. We assume that the children were taught at home with tutors. The rifles held by two children almost assures us that they are boys, but there are many other reasons as well.

Figure 5.--This is very similar to figure 1. The pose is the same, but this looks to be a second shot. It is difficult to spot the difference.

Identification

A reader writes about one of the takes, "Left of the father: Jacques Right of the father Robert The child on her mother's lap is Gisèle Right of the mother are Ferdinande, Paul and Marie-Solange Behind are Betrand, Marie Consuelo, Marie Eugenie Helene, Ismael and Mathieu." The different subjects moved or were moved several times, so our readers's assessment pertains to this one take. I think he is describing figure 3. As we know the images of the various individuals, it is possible to idebtify many of them. As several are close in age, hiwever, and the younger boys dressed like their sisters, others are more difficult to identfy.

Figure 6.--

Different Takes

As can be imagined, Nadar had his hands full with this lot. Small children are a delight to photograph, but a group is really a challenge. The little children really get figity. Someone is always doing something to spoil the photograph. And all the shots Nadar took are testimony to what he went through. Another reader has found some thumnail-size images of the various takes. "I thought this was an interesting bit of photographic history. I know the photos are small but the detail is sufficient to get the drift. I am sending the different takes to you. Nadar has taken nine photos of the Family De Lesseps, at least I have found nine different versions from this shoot. Some may have been experiments to get the ballance right. Modern photographers also take multiple images even when photographing individual. All the different little children must have complicated this process. As you go through them you can see various children are not co-operating with the photographer. The group is continually re-arranged. Whatwe do not know is the order in which they were taken which would have been interesting. In one the youngest has dozed off. In another Robert the boy in a dress on the right looks indignant and impish, and possibly to calm him down he and his elder brother Paul swap places, and he is sitting next to his father. I can imagine the coversation. "You sit HERE and behave yourself." Kids don't change. We see: Back Row: Bertrand 13: Matthieu 18: Mme De L: Ishmael 17: Consuelo 13 Front Row: Solange 11: Eugenie 12: Gizelle 5 (on stool): Jaques 3 (on Goat): Count De L: Robert 6: Ferdinande 16: Paul 8 (figure 1). Paul is the one misbehaving. As you go through the photos you can see his impish expressions and attitudes. I like the hands on hips (figure 2).

Figure 7.--

Sources

Autard, John. E-mail May 5, 2009. John is the great grandson of Helene De Lesseps. He lives in Cape Town, South Africa and has a website devoted to his family. A HBC contributor has been corresponding with him.

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Created: 1:21 AM 2/13/2008
Last updated: 4:25 AM 5/18/2009