Jean-Baptiste Frénet

Born in January 31, 1814 in Lyon, France, Jean-Baptiste Frenet was the son of silk fabric manufacturer, and he benefited from the artistic aspects of his father's profession

As a young man Frenet entered the Academy of Fine Arts in Lyon in 1827; in 1834 he went to Paris where he attended the Academy of Fine Arts and trained in the atelier of Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres. When Ingres took up his post at the French Academy in Rome, Frenet followed. After his return to France in 1837, he worked for some time in Paris; then settled outside of Lyon where he undertook regional commissions. Frenet, a committed Republican, became politically active in the revolution of 1848.

While also a sculptor and painter, Frenet became involved with photography in the early 1850s when he tried to reproduce the frescoes he painted in Ainay. He would strip off collodion from his glass negatives and remount it on paper to give his images a softer look. His approach to portraits was ground-breaking in his casual, relaxed style. His psychological portraits pre-date Nadar's and his younger brother's more famous efforts. Frénet opened a professional photography studio in 1866-1867 in Lyon.

Frénet died at Charly, France on August 12, 1889.

Following a Paris auction of his studio photographs and negatives in 2000, the works of this intimate photographer entered the collections of the Musée d'Orsay, Nelson-Atkins Museum, Getty Museum, New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Gallery of Art (DC), San Francisco Museum of Fine Arts, the Albertina in Vienna, the Wilson Centre of Photography, and many other institutions.

Submitted by Contemporary Works/Vintage Works