Édouard Isidore Buguet
Two CDV Spirit Photographs, c. 1870
Albumen prints
Each 4 x 2 1/2 inches
With Buguet's printed backmark and one (right) with an extensive manuscript caption in French.
With Buguet's printed backmark and one (right) with an extensive manuscript caption in French.
Further images
Parisian photographer Édouard Isidore Buguet was well-known for his spirit photographs, produced during the early 1870s. Using double exposures, disguised figures, and pre-exposed plates, he created portraits in which spirits...
Parisian photographer Édouard Isidore Buguet was well-known for his spirit photographs, produced during the early 1870s. Using double exposures, disguised figures, and pre-exposed plates, he created portraits in which spirits appeared alongside living sitters, supposedly depicting deceased relatives. His photographs gained considerable popularity among European spiritualists before his arrest and conviction for fraud in 1875, making him a central figure in the history of spirit photography and the manipulation of photographic evidence.
The notations on the verso of the right image read: "Le N° 5 est l'esprit de la sœur de ma femme, morte il y a 46 ans. J'ai reconnu cet esprit à la ressemblance de ma femme, dont on disait toujours qu'elle était son portrait vivant."
Which translates roughly to: "No. 5 is the spirit of my wife's sister, who died 46 years ago. I recognized this spirit by its resemblance to my wife, of whom it was always said that she was her sister's living image."
The notations on the verso of the right image read: "Le N° 5 est l'esprit de la sœur de ma femme, morte il y a 46 ans. J'ai reconnu cet esprit à la ressemblance de ma femme, dont on disait toujours qu'elle était son portrait vivant."
Which translates roughly to: "No. 5 is the spirit of my wife's sister, who died 46 years ago. I recognized this spirit by its resemblance to my wife, of whom it was always said that she was her sister's living image."