eGrove - Women of Photography: A 24-Hour Conference-a-thon Celebrating International Women’s Day 2025: For Her Gaze Only: The Divine Contessa, a Nineteenth-Century Woman in Photography
 

For Her Gaze Only: The Divine Contessa, a Nineteenth-Century Woman in Photography

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Presentation

Start Date

8-3-2025 2:00 AM

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Frances Di Lauro, Associate Professor in Writing Studies, University of Sydney, Australia

For Her Gaze Only: The Divine Contessa, a Nineteenth-Century Woman in Photography

Born on 22 March 1837, Virginia Elisabetta Luisa Antonietta Teresa Maria Oldoini received the title Contessa of Castiglione when she married by prior arrangement, Count Francesco Verasis Asinari of Castigliole d’Asti and Castiglione Tinella in 1954. By 1856, the Contessa of Castiglione began to sit for Pierre-Louis Pierson of Mayer and Pierson, the official photographers of the Imperial Court of Napoleon III. Over the following years, she commissioned more than 700 photographs, establishing herself as an icon of self-expression and performativity with a distinct aesthetic. Through visual narratives of self-representation, she crafted a personal image that garnered attention and earned renown that lingers still. Over 170 years later, many extant photographs of her are still exhibited at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and in major art galleries in Paris, London, and Rome. These exhibitions reflect her significant role in the history of photography and her lasting impact on the art form. Challenging the norms of her era, the Contessa of Castiglione actively shaped her narrative and image, pioneering an early form of personal branding that resonates with contemporary self-representation. Her meticulous portraits transformed photography from a mere documentary tool to an artistic medium, highlighting its creative possibilities. By positioning herself as both artist and subject, she subverted mid-nineteenth-century gender stereotypes and significantly influenced the development of self-portrait photography.

The contributions of Virginia Oldoini Verasis, the Contessa of Castiglione, underscored the importance of individual stories and creative control, laying the foundations for future generations of women in photography. Her work paved the way for the photographic self-performance presented to us by Adolph de Meyer and Florence Henri.

This paper will contextualise her approach to self-representation within its historical and cultural framework, exploring themes of authorship, authenticity, and her pioneering vision of personal branding.

Frances Di Lauro is an Associate Professor of Writing Studies at the University of Sydney, where she teaches rhetoric, argumentation, and digital writing. Her interdisciplinary background blends a strong foundation in archaeology and religious studies with expertise in communication theory, specifically analysing communicative texts – visually and aurally – from songs to poetry to film to performance art. Frances has been teaching since 2004 and is dedicated to fostering critical thinking and effective communication skills in students. Her research focuses on textual communication’s visual and auditory elements, exploring how these mediums shape meaning and impact audience engagement. This work extends into pedagogy as Frances researches innovative approaches to teaching writing that incorporate multimedia and multimodal analysis techniques. She's also passionate about promoting accessible scholarship through open-access platforms in digital writing pedagogy. Frances actively promotes women’s contributions to history across various disciplines.

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Mar 8th, 2:00 AM

For Her Gaze Only: The Divine Contessa, a Nineteenth-Century Woman in Photography

Frances Di Lauro, Associate Professor in Writing Studies, University of Sydney, Australia

For Her Gaze Only: The Divine Contessa, a Nineteenth-Century Woman in Photography

Born on 22 March 1837, Virginia Elisabetta Luisa Antonietta Teresa Maria Oldoini received the title Contessa of Castiglione when she married by prior arrangement, Count Francesco Verasis Asinari of Castigliole d’Asti and Castiglione Tinella in 1954. By 1856, the Contessa of Castiglione began to sit for Pierre-Louis Pierson of Mayer and Pierson, the official photographers of the Imperial Court of Napoleon III. Over the following years, she commissioned more than 700 photographs, establishing herself as an icon of self-expression and performativity with a distinct aesthetic. Through visual narratives of self-representation, she crafted a personal image that garnered attention and earned renown that lingers still. Over 170 years later, many extant photographs of her are still exhibited at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and in major art galleries in Paris, London, and Rome. These exhibitions reflect her significant role in the history of photography and her lasting impact on the art form. Challenging the norms of her era, the Contessa of Castiglione actively shaped her narrative and image, pioneering an early form of personal branding that resonates with contemporary self-representation. Her meticulous portraits transformed photography from a mere documentary tool to an artistic medium, highlighting its creative possibilities. By positioning herself as both artist and subject, she subverted mid-nineteenth-century gender stereotypes and significantly influenced the development of self-portrait photography.

The contributions of Virginia Oldoini Verasis, the Contessa of Castiglione, underscored the importance of individual stories and creative control, laying the foundations for future generations of women in photography. Her work paved the way for the photographic self-performance presented to us by Adolph de Meyer and Florence Henri.

This paper will contextualise her approach to self-representation within its historical and cultural framework, exploring themes of authorship, authenticity, and her pioneering vision of personal branding.

Frances Di Lauro is an Associate Professor of Writing Studies at the University of Sydney, where she teaches rhetoric, argumentation, and digital writing. Her interdisciplinary background blends a strong foundation in archaeology and religious studies with expertise in communication theory, specifically analysing communicative texts – visually and aurally – from songs to poetry to film to performance art. Frances has been teaching since 2004 and is dedicated to fostering critical thinking and effective communication skills in students. Her research focuses on textual communication’s visual and auditory elements, exploring how these mediums shape meaning and impact audience engagement. This work extends into pedagogy as Frances researches innovative approaches to teaching writing that incorporate multimedia and multimodal analysis techniques. She's also passionate about promoting accessible scholarship through open-access platforms in digital writing pedagogy. Frances actively promotes women’s contributions to history across various disciplines.