Chapter 2: A Plenitude of Portraits PDF 1839-1890

# Chapter 2: A Plenitude of Portraits - 1839-1890 ## Carte-de-Visite and Celebrity Portraits *a. Carte-de-Visite and Celebrity Portraits became very popular with the middle class and the ruling kings and queens, starting around 1854. *Page 62: It was a pocket-size paper portrait, also a calling...

# Chapter 2: A Plenitude of Portraits - 1839-1890 ## Carte-de-Visite and Celebrity Portraits *a. Carte-de-Visite and Celebrity Portraits became very popular with the middle class and the ruling kings and queens, starting around 1854. *Page 62: It was a pocket-size paper portrait, also a calling card used to introduce yourself, licenses, passports, entry tickets and other documents of a social nature. **Card Size:** 3 1/2 x 2 1/2 inches **Cost:** Inexpensive **Impact:** Captured the public imagination. ## Plate No. 59 (Page 63) Eight exposures of a woman in a dress, using a different pose in each picture. ## Page 44 Blue glass bottles used in portrait studios to tame harsh light on a sitter's face, etc. Matthew Brody's new photographic gallery started in NYC around 1861. ## Page 59 **Tintype (1856):** * One of a kind * Thin iron plate treated with sensitized collodion (guncotton dissolved in alcohol and ether) * Plate coated with a thin layer of black varnish * Lightweight and cheap * Ideal for travelers and civil war soldiers **Chemical Conversion:** Potassium iodide → Potassium bromide ## Plate No. 31 (Page 42) Antoine Francois Claudet stated that in portrait photography, in spite of his belief that the process was so difficult, "failure was the rule and success was the exception".