Ambrotype of Mother and Baby, ca. 1860

The ambrotype was invented in England by William Henry Fox Talbot, but not perfected until 1854 by James A. Cutting. This ambrotype is held in a Union Case, patented on October 14, 1856 and on April 21, 1857. Union cases were made of a “union” of different resins and wooden fibers. The case cover has a design of bunches of grapes and grape leaves. The image is held in an oval preserver made of pressed brass.

The focal point is a seated woman holding an infant wearing a white dress. The woman’s dark colored dress has a large amount of fabric in the skirt suggesting that it is a hoop skirt. The bodice has a high neckline with a detachable white collar and brooch. The dropped shoulder creates a curved shoulder silhouette. The sleeve type is a pagoda style worn with plaid undersleeves. The infant’s dress also has a wide skirt.

The popularity of post-mortem photography during the Victorian Age raises the question about the child in this photograph. Is the child deceased? After all, the mother wears dark clothing, possibly because she is in mourning. Babies and young children who had died recently were sometimes photographed in the arms of their mothers. The eyes were sometimes painted onto the photograph to make the child look alive. The photograph was a way to preserve the memory of the child forever. Post-mortem photography was an inexpensive replacement for the mourning portrait of earlier centuries.

References

Joan Severa, Dressed for the Photographer: Ordinary Americans and Fashion, 1840-1900. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 1995.