[Woman in bonnet, bust portrait]

Archive record

1 photographic print on cartes de visite mount : tintype, hand-colored. | Photograph showing a portrait of an unidentified woman.

About this photograph

This photograph is a hand-colored tintype mounted as a carte de visite. The archive record identifies the sitter only as an unidentified woman, providing no further biographical details.

The carte de visite format, which mounted photographs on small cards, became widely popular in the 1860s for portraits meant to be shared with family and friends.

Studio portraiture held particular significance in Black communities during this period. At a time when published images of African Americans were largely caricatures, sitting for a formal portrait represented a deliberate assertion of dignity and standing. The archive's lack of biographical information about this sitter reflects common record-keeping practices of the era, which often left Black sitters unnamed while documenting white subjects more fully.

The hand-coloring applied to this tintype was a common enhancement that added warmth and detail to the monochromatic photographic process.

Compiled from the catalogue record and reference notes on the formats and events involved. The archive record above is the primary source.

About the format

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