Nineteenth-Century Hand-Painted Tintype Portrait of a Gentlewoman of African Descent

Details

Description

Unknown Photographer
Portrait of a Gentlewoman of African Descent, ca. 1860
Tintype
Dimensions: 2 x 1.75 inches.

Description: Turned at … Read more Unknown Photographer
Portrait of a Gentlewoman of African Descent, ca. 1860
Tintype
Dimensions: 2 x 1.75 inches.

Description: Turned at a near three-quarter view, the gentlewoman is wearing a daytime dress with long, semi-fitted sleeves and military-style decorative buttons. Adorned with a centered oval broach and round earrings, she is seated in a chair with a textile at the proper upper left. With a slight smile, her eyes gaze to the proper right of the camera lens.

Condition: Good. It presents common features of tintypes: irregularly cut edges, an uneven surface, irregular light and chemical production, and minor losses to surface, especially the edges. There is distinctive subtle hand-painted color pigment on facial feature, dress, and accessories. The face has applied light red pigment at the checks and lips, the dress has applied blue pigment, and the accessories feature hand-painted yellow that is more opaquely applied to the centered oval broach and round earrings.

Observation: The hand-colored details are unexpected, create visual interest, and richly reward the viewer of his small-scale tintype that at first glance seems to have very little variation in value/darkness.

Note: The photographs of the tintype are taken in natural light, a combination of natural and residential light, and from unusual angles intended to show the surface plane. While the scale of the image on Chairish’s platform allows for the visibility of detail, it can also distort one’s perception of scale and contrast. In person the tintype is small and with less contrast and detail as in the photographs. One image shows the tintype photographed with an AirPod as a point of scale relationship.

Keywords: Ferrotype, Feminine Beauty, Black, African American, Culture, History, Slavery, Emancipation, Acculturation, Agency, Prosperity, Memory, Document, Photograph, Photography, Portrait Studio. See less