Carte de visite, group portrait of four young children

Title: Carte de visite, group portrait of four young children

Reference: DD1/E/56

Subseries: A.D [Alice Dolan] Album

Level of Description: Item

Format: Photograph

Material & Techniques:

Extent: 1 

Creator: Weston Brothers [Photographers]

Published/Created: [ca. 1880]

Place of Origin: Drogheda

Physical Description: Four young children crowd around for a photograph in a photographers studio. [Left to right] The eldest girl holds a book in her left hand and holds a small boy close with her right. Her dark hair is tied back and parted in the center. She wears a heavily pleated dress with a white ruffle collar and dark boots. The small boy has short, light hair and is dressed in a coat with a large white collar. The next girl wears a heavily pleated dress with her dark hair tied back. She rests her hand on the next girl's shoulder. The final girl has dark hair, tied back once again and wears a dress identical to the second sister. She is sitting slightly to the side and rests her hand on her skirt. Prop flowers appear in the left background of the image, while a antique column is seen to the right. An identical background can be observed in other Weston Bros. photographs, see: www.jacolette.wordpress.com.

Marks & Inscriptions: [Back] Weston Bros. Photographers Drogheda.

Summary: The carte de visite was patented in 1854 by the French photographer André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri, and soon became the most common type of photograph. Between four and six miniature portraits could be taken on one glass plate negative. Sitters then chose their favourites, which were printed, cut out and mounted onto calling cards. It was fashionable to exchange and collect images of family, friends, royalty and celebrities, into specially designed albums.

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