[Album Page of Portraits]

Unknown

ca. 1855 · Albumen silver and salted paper prints from paper negatives · Photographs

The subjects of these photographs are anonymous. This in itself is remarkable, as they were among the first generations who—without exceptional wealth, power, or even beauty—could be remembered by their faces, long after their names had been forgotten. By the 1850s, photographs had become so inexpensive to print that portraiture ceased to be a luxury, and Victorians exchanged likenesses on photographic calling cards. Cut from such cards, and from other photo-matter, these portraits may chart a family tree or friend group. Several subjects appear more than once in different outfits and scenarios. The sheer variety of these images, so inconsistently styled and printed, suggests that they were compiled by an amateur collector, rather than a commercial studio.

Artist

Unknown

Date

ca. 1855

Medium

Albumen silver and salted paper prints from paper negatives

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Funds from various donors, 1997