Portrait of the Actor Pierre Bocage and Friend

About the Artwork

Unlike the nearby two theatrical portraits, which show the actors in character, Bocage is shown as himself. Known by the stage name Bocage, Pierre-Martinien Tousez was a star of the Comédie-Française. Here he poses with a younger friend whose identity is unknown. Physical contact and gestures of affection between men are common in 19th- and early 20th-century photographs. They are most widely read as expressions of friendship, although some contemporary scholars suggest that a portion of these portraits could be coded expressions of romantic relationships.

Inscriptions

Written in pencil on recto: "Colliau (eleve de le Gray) M2208J"

Exhibition history

19th-Century French Portrait Photography from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 27-August 9, 2000). Drawn with Light: Pioneering French Photography from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 26-June 16, 2005). France at the Dawn of Photography. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 4, 2009-January 24, 2010). Cheating Death: Portrait Photography’s First Half Century. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 22, 2016-February 5, 2017).

Quick Overview

Artist: Jean-Baptiste Émile (Eugène) Colliau (French, 1826–1884)
Date: c. 1860
Medium: albumen print from wet collodion negative
Dimensions: Image: 24.1 x 17.8 cm (9 1/2 x 7 in.); Mounted: 45.1 x 30.1 cm (17 3/4 x 11 7/8 in.); Matted: 50.8 x 40.6 cm (20 x 16 in.)
Type: Photograph
Classification: Photograph
Department: Photography
Credit line: John L. Severance Fund
Accession no.: 1999.21

Provenance

The Cleveland Museum of Art’s open-access data does not include an ownership history for this work. See the museum’s page for this work.

Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.