*skiagraphia
Ambrotype of a Virginian couple
Half plate American ambrotype
photographer unknown, late 1850s-early 1860s
Theodor E. Ulieriu-Rostás collection. Accession number: amb.2010.09.
Ambrotype of an American couple, coming from an estate in Norfolk, Virginia (Park Place or West Ghent) - thus, there is a great probability that the two were Virginians.
A portrait of a rather dissonant couple, which exhibits some poignant details. The man is well habituated to his middle class clothes, but his hair seems more likely unarranged than programatically romantic, and his gaze has nothing comforting in it. The woman seems to be pregnant, considering that late 1850s crinolines didn`t have the kind of front protuberance seen here, as well as the unusual position of her hands. However, no wedding ring - a highlighted item in many early photographs - is visible here. The woman wears a fingerless lace glove of the type that came into fashion in the second half of the 1850s - but only one glove. This is definitely not the usual engagement/marriage portrait, but still an important occasion for a grand 1/2 plate photograph... They might be brother and sister, but that doesn`t fill all the symbolic holes in the picture. I`ve seen enough early portraits to judge prudently the apparent distress on the photographed ones` faces, but this portrait leaves a question unanswered.
Some conservation info: the ambrotype was broken at some point of its history in 11 fragments, which have been glued on a glass, resulting a rather heavy assembly of 3 glass plates which barely fit in the brass preserver. Some of the fragments had began to move, without much damage though. On the long term, the glue might degrade the plate, but it would`ve been more dangerous to try to disassemble the glued glass, so I`ve decided only to clean the upper glass sheet and to seal all the three very tightly with archival paper tape, like a daguerreotype, in order to prevent the friction between the moving fragments.
***
View this ambrotype on Ipernity.
Ambrotype of a Virginian couple
Half plate American ambrotype
photographer unknown, late 1850s-early 1860s
Theodor E. Ulieriu-Rostás collection. Accession number: amb.2010.09.
Ambrotype of an American couple, coming from an estate in Norfolk, Virginia (Park Place or West Ghent) - thus, there is a great probability that the two were Virginians.
A portrait of a rather dissonant couple, which exhibits some poignant details. The man is well habituated to his middle class clothes, but his hair seems more likely unarranged than programatically romantic, and his gaze has nothing comforting in it. The woman seems to be pregnant, considering that late 1850s crinolines didn`t have the kind of front protuberance seen here, as well as the unusual position of her hands. However, no wedding ring - a highlighted item in many early photographs - is visible here. The woman wears a fingerless lace glove of the type that came into fashion in the second half of the 1850s - but only one glove. This is definitely not the usual engagement/marriage portrait, but still an important occasion for a grand 1/2 plate photograph... They might be brother and sister, but that doesn`t fill all the symbolic holes in the picture. I`ve seen enough early portraits to judge prudently the apparent distress on the photographed ones` faces, but this portrait leaves a question unanswered.
Some conservation info: the ambrotype was broken at some point of its history in 11 fragments, which have been glued on a glass, resulting a rather heavy assembly of 3 glass plates which barely fit in the brass preserver. Some of the fragments had began to move, without much damage though. On the long term, the glue might degrade the plate, but it would`ve been more dangerous to try to disassemble the glued glass, so I`ve decided only to clean the upper glass sheet and to seal all the three very tightly with archival paper tape, like a daguerreotype, in order to prevent the friction between the moving fragments.
***
View this ambrotype on Ipernity.