{"product_id":"13225-wilde-oscar-sarony-napoleon-jumbo-sarony-photograph-signed-in-new-york-1882","title":"Wilde, Oscar. (1854–1900) [Sarony, Napoleon. (1812–1896)] Jumbo Sarony Photograph - SIGNED IN NEW YORK, 1882","description":"\u003cdiv style=\"\"\u003e\n\u003cspan style=\"\"\u003eOriginal portrait photograph by Napoleon Sarony, large format albumen cabinet card, SIGNED BY WILDE (\u003c\/span\u003e“Oscar Wilde June ’82 New York”\u003cspan style=\"\"\u003e), quarter length, turned to the left and half looking back towards but not at the camera, wearing his astrakhan coat. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"\"\u003e7 1⁄4” x 12 3⁄4”, archivally matted and set in a fine hand-carved original Aesthetic Movement frame under UV plexi.  \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"\"\u003eThe \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"\"\u003eimage has had some cleaning and restoration work to the surface, the edges and the bottom corners. There is a surface \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"\"\u003ecrack through the “e” of June and light damage to the surface just above the “c” in Oscar.  Wilde is very scarce \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"\"\u003ein signed photographs, and ones of this size are particularly rare. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"\"\u003eReference: Merlin Holland, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"\"\u003eThe Wilde Album\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"\"\u003e, 1997 (number 22 in Holland's sequence); Richard Ellman, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"\"\u003eOscar Wilde\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"\"\u003e, 1987.\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cbr style=\"\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"\"\u003eAmong the best known images of Wilde, it is one of the twenty-seven images of him which Sarony took at the beginning of the former's tour of America in 1882. Sarony was the pre-eminent New York photographer of his day and one of the city's favourite eccentrics. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003eWilde, who was eager to make an international reputation, first came to America on a lecture tour arranged by the English impresario, Richard d'Oyly Carte (of Gilbert and Sullivan fame), arriving on the SS Arizona on January 3rd, 1882, this being the date of his famous quip to the NY Customs House officer that he had \"nothing to declare except my genius.\" On a grueling schedule, Wilde lectured to Americans on aestheticism in a new town every few days and though the tour was originally planned to last four months, it was continued for over a year. \u003cspan style=\"\"\u003eIn preparation for this tour, he bought himself some suitably aesthetic outfits, including a long, heavy, fur-lined green overcoat (shown in this photograph). He became very attached to this coat, writing later that \"it was all over America with me ... it knows me perfectly,\" and he wore it when he set sail for New York on Christmas Eve, 1881, without a word of his lectures written. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr style=\"\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Schubertiade Music and Arts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46093511327903,"sku":"13225","price":25000.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0512\/4826\/7423\/files\/Wilde_photograph_framed_13225.jpg?v=1722188511","url":"https:\/\/www.schubertiademusic.com\/products\/13225-wilde-oscar-sarony-napoleon-jumbo-sarony-photograph-signed-in-new-york-1882","provider":"Schubertiade Music and Arts","version":"1.0","type":"link"}