This albumen print carte-de-visite depicts Friedrich Heinrich Albrecht, Prince of Prussia. The carte-de-visite was a type of small photograph patented in France in 1854 by André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri. It became widely popular as this new technology allowed many photographs to be produced quickly and cheaply. People learned how to pose for cartes-de-visite, constructing their class identity for the camera. In this photograph of the Prince of Prussia, the subject deliberately chose to pose with his hat in his hand, with a large vase and elegant curtain in the background. These elements come together to portray the Prince’s high social class and power. It was common for cartes of celebrities and royalty, such as this one, to be collected and sold to a broader market.

The low cost and production efficiency of the carte-de-visite allowed it to become an important tool in the abolitionist movement in the United States. Cartes of slaves circulated around the country to communicate how slaves could also be bourgeois subjects in society and showed the agonizing injuries slaves had to endure. The carte-de-visite was an important milestone in the technological development of photography because it gave more people access to have their photos taken, made it easy for photographs to be distributed, and served as a political tool.