Eugénie, Empress of France
Photograph
Eugénie, Empress of France
ca. 1865
Albumen silver print
Image: 3 1/4 × 2 5/16 in. (8.3 × 5.8 cm)
Mount: 4 1/8 × 2 7/16 in. (10.4 × 6.2 cm)
Gift of Alden Scott Boyer
1981.5348.0001
Inscriptions Inscribed in pencil on mount on recto, RB: [arrow]
Printed on mount on recto, BC: Phothographiée d'apres nature à Fontainebleau \ par THIÉBAULT Bt. Bne. Nlle. 31 Déposé
Inscribed in Boyer's hand in pencil on verso, TC: note Looks \ retouched
Printed on verso, C: PHOTOGRAPHIE \ THIEBAULT \ BREVETÉ S. G. D. G \ 31, Boulevart Bonne Nouvelle, 31 \ PARIS
Printed on applied label on verso, BC: DALTON & LUCY, \ Booksellers to the Queen, \ 28, Cockspur St. Charing Cross.
Printed on mount on recto, BC: Phothographiée d'apres nature à Fontainebleau \ par THIÉBAULT Bt. Bne. Nlle. 31 Déposé
Inscribed in Boyer's hand in pencil on verso, TC: note Looks \ retouched
Printed on verso, C: PHOTOGRAPHIE \ THIEBAULT \ BREVETÉ S. G. D. G \ 31, Boulevart Bonne Nouvelle, 31 \ PARIS
Printed on applied label on verso, BC: DALTON & LUCY, \ Booksellers to the Queen, \ 28, Cockspur St. Charing Cross.
TextFirst introduced in the 1850s, tintype and ambrotype photographs enjoyed widespread popularity throughout the 1860s and ’70s. Both used the wet-plate collodion process, which involved a light sensitive liquid emulsion that was coated onto a support and quickly exposed to light before the solution dried. The primary difference between ambrotypes and tintypes were their supports: tintypes used a thin sheet of iron coated with a dark lacquer as their base, whereas ambrotypes used a sheet of glass backed with a black material. Despite the obvious difficulties involved with handling a wet emulsion within a constricted timeframe, wet collodion-based processes were attractive to photographers for their high light sensitivity, ability to record minute detail, and relative cheapness, a quality that led the tintype to be colloquially known as “the poor man’s daguerreotype” and made informal sittings such as these economically feasible.
Lisa Hostetler, Ph.D.
Curator in Charge, Department of Photography
Label for A History of Photography [Rotation 1]
May 9–September 28, 2014
Lisa Hostetler, Ph.D.
Curator in Charge, Department of Photography
Label for A History of Photography [Rotation 1]
May 9–September 28, 2014
See alsoSee also
