Snapshots of the Past

Portrait of an unidentified woman in a dark dress – Historic Photo Reproduction

Portrait of an unidentified woman in a dark dress, 1840 — historic photograph
Portrait of an unidentified woman in a dark dress, 1840. 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

Few images capture their era like this historic photograph of Portrait of an unidentified woman in a dark dress. Drawn from the Snapshots of the Past archive, it is an authentic piece of documented history.

Choose the framed print, ready to hang the day it arrives, or the unframed print for a frame of your own. It makes a striking addition to a living room, study or office, and a thoughtful 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.

Portrait of an unidentified woman in a dark dress

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A quiet portrait of a woman in a dark dress, her identity lost to time, it still shows how early photography captured ordinary people. Dating to 1840, it belongs to the first years after Louis Daguerre announced his process in 1839, when a daguerreotype was a one-of-a-kind image on a polished silver-coated copper plate. Sitters of this period had to hold still for minutes in bright light, so their expressions are often serious and fixed. The dark clothing was typical for the time, and it reads with striking clarity against the plate's mirror-like background. Because the sitter is unnamed, the picture invites viewers to look closely at dress, posture and the tools of a brand-new medium.

Created / published1840
Original scan3,312 × 4,096 px · prints to 11 × 14 in at 300 dpi
Reference523_Unidentified_woman_poss_1840

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