An album celebrating the life of Madame Henriette Biedermann Kann (1837-1865)

Madame Henriette Biedermann KANN (1837 – 1865). -  André-Adolphe-Eugène DISDÉRI (1819-1889), Robert Jefferson BINGHAM (1825-1870), Ferdinand RANDEGGER (1814-1876) and Monsieur FERRET of Nice,  photographers.

An album celebrating the life of Madame Henriette Biedermann KANN, born  21 August 1837 in Vienna, Austria, died 7 April 1865 in Paris, aged 27. She was the first wife of Isaac Edouard "Sacki" Kann (1830-1887). The Kanns/Kahns were one of the great ‘bourgeois’ Jewish families of Europe at the time. Isaac and Henriette married in 1856 (when Henriette was 18), and they had three children.

Folio (13 ½ x 10 ¼in; 343 x 260mm).  Photos: 4 card leaves, each with 4 ‘windows’, displaying a total of 16 carte-de-visite portraits of Madame Kann (6 by Disdéri of Paris; 8 by Bingham of Paris; 1 by Randegger of Vevey; 1 by Ferret of Nice), Text: 10 thin wove paper leaves with extracts recalling what was written about Madame Kann (H. de Pène. Feuilleton de l’époque du Jeudi 14 Avril 1865, 7pp; Auguste Villemot. Le Temps Feuilleton du 23 Avril 1865, 2pp; [Anonymous]. Sport, 2pp; Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung. Paris, 8 April, 1p., the rest of the pages are blank). 1 thin card leaf at the end, recto mounted with an albumen print (7 ¾ x 5 ¼ inches) of a bust of Madame Kann, on the card beneath the image are six manuscript lines in German, attributed to ‘Louis’ i.e. Ludwig Bamberger (1823-1899). Binding: Mid brown morocco spine and lower cover, the upper cover composed of mixed materials: an outer border of leather and gilt metal, enclosing various panels, containing champlevé enameled sections in light blue and gilt, the large shaped central panel of distressed velvet, at the center of which is a cast ormulu Ivy wreath, enclosing a very fine Vienna hand-painted porcelain oval plaque, being a portrait of Madame Kann (adapted from a photographic image by Bingham), signed 'J. Zasche / in / Wien' on the verso,  purple watered silk endpapers

Condition: some photos fade and slightly cut down, small tears to mounts, small tears to text pages which are somewhat toned; binding rubbed, lacking clasp, inner hinges weak, but overall holding and still attractive.

Provenance: Charlotte Marie Evelyne Reinach (née Kann, 1863-1889, by descent); Hélène Abrami (née Reinach, 1887-1960, by descent); Jennifer Kann (?-?); bought at auction.

NB: the text beneath the albumen print might be autograph by Bamberger? – but this has not been confirmed.

Artist responsible for the miniature portrait:

"Josef Zasche was born in Gablonz in 1821. In 1844 he served an apprenticeship as porcelain, ivory and enamel painter at the Vienna Porcelain Manufacture. Three years later, in 1847, he established his own workshop in the centre of Vienna. Zasche was famous for painting religious subjects, often copies after Old Masters. His works were displayed at a number of International Exhibitions, including Melbourne in 1881, Philadelphia in 1886 and Chicago in 1893." (https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/items/1452884)

Main Photographers:

Disdéri was born “in France in 1819, Disdéri was responsible for the introduction and popularisation of the carte-de-visite sized photograph in France. Cartes-de-visite were smaller, cheaper portrait photographs which were, therefore, more readily available for public consumption. The images were often mounted on card and exchanged with friends as 'calling cards'. In 1854, Disdéri opened the biggest and grandest portrait studio in Paris. He was tremendously successful throughout the 1850s and 1860s. Indeed, it was rumoured that Napoleon III had halted his troops in front of the studio as they departed for war in 1859 so that he might have his likeness captured. Disdéri died in 1889.

Bingham was born “in 1825 near Leicester in England, Bingham had a background in chemistry. He was particularly interested in photographic processes, and published a treatise on this subject in 1848. He later became the first writer to outline the possible use of collodion in photographs and the self-proclaimed 'Inventeur du procédé collodion'. Bingham first exhibited his photographs of landscapes and of copies of paintings in London at The Great Exhibition in 1851. In 1859 he established a photographic portrait studio in Paris, which thrived throughout the 1860s and continued under his name even after his death in Brussels in 1870. The National Portrait Gallery holds more than 20 of his photographs.” (NPG, London).