Tabby cat lying on a dark couch, sepia photograph

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A tabby cat sprawls across a dark couch in this sepia photograph, its striped coat standing out against the upholstery. Sepia toning was the standard look for many photographs made from the late 1800s into the early 1900s, when prints were treated with chemical baths that warmed their browns and softened their tones. Pictures of household pets like this one were a popular subject, since a cat stretched out on furniture offered a glimpse of ordinary domestic life in an era when studio portraits were usually formal. Its relaxed pose is worth noticing, because early cameras needed long exposures and sitters were expected to hold still, so an animal that stayed put long enough to be captured was a small photographic achievement.

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