[Guy de Maupassant, 1850-1893, bust portrait]

Share

Guy de Maupassant, the French writer born in 1850 and dead by 1893, is shown here in a bust-length portrait reproduced as a halftone, a process that broke a photograph into tiny dots so it could be printed in newspapers and books. The record gives no date for the image, so it is best read as a late nineteenth-century or early twentieth-century reproduction of a likeness of the author. Maupassant wrote short stories such as "Boule de Suif" and "The Necklace," and his clean, observant prose made him one of the most widely read storytellers of his era. Pictures like this one helped carry his face to readers far beyond Paris.

More from the Historic Print Archive collection

Snapshots of the Past helps heritage brands, museums, historians and storytellers tell stories with history: historic prints, image licensing and historical storytelling drawn from more than 25 years of research and curation.