Julien Vallou de Villeneuve (French, 1795-1866) Portrait of Judith, 1850s Salt print from paper negative 6-1/2 x 4-7/8 inches (16.5 x 12.4 cm) 9 x 7-1/4 inches (paper mount) Signed in the negative. Annotated "Judith" in pencil on verso. Annotated "Mlle. Fix dans Le Verre d'eau role a Abigaile" in pencil on mount. PROVENANCE: Andre Jammes Sotheby's sale. 1999: Current owner. From a series of actors by Villeneuve. This may be a portrait of Mlle. Fix (of the Comedie Francaise) as she appeared in "Le Verre d'eau" in the role of "Abigaile" as written in pencil on recto mount by Andre Jammes.; however, there is an earlier annotation of "Judith" in pencil on the photograph's verso. On the copy in the Eastman Museum, she is identified as "Mademoiselle Judith, cousine de Rachel". Julien Vallou de Villeneuve (December 12, 1795 in Boissy-Saint-Léger – May 4, 1866 in Paris) was a French painter, lithographer and photographer. Vallou de Villeneuve studied with Jean-François Millet, and started his career at the Salon of 1814, exhibiting images depicting daily life, fashion, regional costumes and nude photographs. In the 1820s and 30s he developed an international following for his folio-sized lithographic erotic series Les Jeunes Femmes, depicting racy episodes in the life of young women and their lovers. From 1842 Villeneuve took up the camera, first producing daguerreotypes and then softly toned salted paper prints from paper negatives of the same subject matter. He moved to Paris in 1850, founding the Société française de photographie in 1854. He was also a member of the Société héliographique. Realist painter Gustave Courbet was introduced to his photographs by fellow artist Alfred Bruyas during the 1850s and used them as source material for his paintings, in particular L'Atelier (1855) and Les Baigneuses (1853). No photographs by him after 1855 are recorded. Vallou de Villeneuve is buried at Père Lachaise Cemetery. HID03101062020 © 2020 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved