Snapshots of the Past

Unidentified woman half – Historic Photo Reproduction

Unidentified woman half, 1855 — historic photograph
Unidentified woman half, 1855. Historic photograph from the Daguerreotypes & Early Photography collection.

(Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)

Description

A window into the past: Unidentified woman half, preserved in this historic photograph. It comes from the Snapshots of the Past collection, curated over 25 years for its historical value.

Choose the framed print, ready to hang the day it arrives, or the unframed print for a frame of your own. It brings character to any room and makes a memorable gift. Free shipping in the lower 48 states. Since 2001, Snapshots of the Past has shipped historic prints to tens of thousands of customers around the world.

Unidentified woman half

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Little is recorded about this half-plate portrait of an unidentified woman, but its format and date tie it to a specific moment in photographic history. Half-plate daguerreotypes, measuring about 6.5 by 8.5 inches, were a common size for studio portraits, and by 1855 the process was being overtaken by cheaper paper and glass-based methods. The polished silver surface acts like a mirror, so the image seems to shift as the viewer tilts it, a quality best appreciated in person. Early exposures could last several seconds, which helps explain the still, composed poses typical of sitters from this era.

Created / published1855
Original scan3,964 × 5,000 px · prints to 13 × 17 in at 300 dpi
Reference688_Unidentified_woman_half_1855

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Snapshots of the Past helps heritage brands, museums, historians and storytellers tell stories with history: historic prints, image licensing and historical storytelling drawn from more than 25 years of research and curation.

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