Hand-colored photographs were created in an attempt to make monochromatic photographs more realistic. Johan Baptist Isenring, a Swiss painter, is credited to having produced one of the earliest examples of hand-colored daguerreotypes by using gum arabic and pigments. Paper photographs (like the cartes-de-visite pictured above) were colored using oils, water colors, pastels, or aniline colors. Hand-colored photographs were considered a status symbol, and nearly every photography studio offered a color option as the demand increased in the mid-19th century. The Personal Correspondents exhibit at Brooklyn Historical Society provides an excellent brief history on this photography format, and includes 136 cartes-de-visite photographs, some of which are color tipped.
Hand-colored photographs are particularly charming to me because there is an artistic quality to each photograph. In this photograph, there is detail and care in the shading of the skin tone, cheeks and hair. There are varying degrees of detail and shading in hand-colored photographs depending on the skill and interpretation of the artist. It’s hard to say exactly when this photograph was colored. The pink bow has streaking which could hint at a different coloring technique than the skin and hair. It's also possible that the coloring was done much later than when the photograph was originally taken.
This photograph comes from the Ramus family papers and photographs collection. This collection contains papers and photographs pertaining to the Ramus family of Brooklyn. Isaac Ramus and his wife Esther Baruth immigrated from London and lived at 214 Dean Street in Brooklyn. The majority of photographs and documents in this collection pertain to members of the Ramus family, and span the period 1848 to 1910. To view more photographs from this collection, check out this gallery.
Interested in seeing more photos from BHS’s collection? Visit our online image gallery, which includes a selection of our images. Interested in seeing even more historic Brooklyn images? Visit our Brooklyn Visual Heritage website here. To search BHS’s entire collection of images, archives, maps, and special collections visit BHS’s Othmer Library Wed-Sat, 1:00-5:00 p.m. library@brooklynhistory.org
This blog post reflects the opinions of the author and does not necessarily represent the views of Brooklyn Public Library.
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