What does this photograph reveal about my unknown relation?
Q AMy aunt sent me this photo from her collection, but she doesn’t know who it is. Can you tell me any information? Sarah Williams, Editor, Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine
This is a classic early carte de visite – the format that brought portrait photography to a wider population. Produced from c1860 to 1914, they were most popular from the 1860s to 1890s.
Your ancestor is well dressed in a formal day gown of subtly striped silk material, its style displaying the modified crinoline line of the mid-1860s. By then, the vast circular crinoline skirt of the early 1860s was flattening in front and demonstrating a pronounced backward sweep and slight train, as here. Similarly, the bulky padded bodice
1C OMPOSITION
Most early cartes de visite dating from the 1860s portray single subjects in a full-length composition, appearing as doll-like figures in contrived drawingroom settings.
2 HAIRSTYLE
While this lady’s dress style indicates a date of at least the mid1860s, her smooth hairstyle, centrally parted and drawn down low over her ears, is more typical of the late 1850s and the early 1860s.
3 OCCASION
When a mature lady posed for the photographer in a single portrait, as here, the most likely reasons were mourning (especially widowhood) or a milestone birthday.
4 PROP
Often clients were given a book, letter or papers to hold to keep their hands occupied during the sitting and imply that they were educated (when, in fact, not everyone was literate).
5 FURNITURE
Studio sets and furniture can aid dating. This velvet padded seat featuring a high-rolled back, with tassel and fringe trimmings, was a furniture style used by studios from the mid-1860s onwards. was slimming down, gaining a fitted, front-buttoned arrangement, buckled cloth belt and straight sleeves often featuring distinctive epaulette-style shoulder details known as mancherons.
On a younger woman, such modes would indicate a firm middecade date, but since this lady is older, I estimate c1865–1869/1870. Her white collar is neat and prim, her hairstyle conservative and her veil an unusual accessory that accords with the declining tradition for married ladies to cover their heads. This could suggest strong religious convictions, or possibly mourning – although her dark silk gown does not conform precisely to recommended mourning attire. She appears to be in her 40s/50s, and was evidently comfortably placed.
Jayne Shrimpton