I found these two little cartes de visite on eBay. Neither of them are dated, but the clothes the sitters are wearing belong to the early 1860s. Cartes de visite were photographs printed on thin paper and pasted onto thicker cardboard (the size of visiting cards, hence the name). They were very much cheaper than earlier forms of photography, making it possible for less wealthy people to get their pictures taken. It also makes it possible for us to see what ordinary Victorians were wearing more than 150 years later!
Both these photographs were taken in Great Britain but were bought in Australia—hinting that they might have been taken as momentoes for emigrating friends or family.
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| Wormald, Leeds |
This sitter from Leeds is clearly dressed in her best, but just as clearly, her best isn't very expensive. However she is wearing a fashionable hooped skirt. The crinoline was one of the first mass produced fashions. Retailing as low as a few shillings each almost anybody could afford them—much to the consternation of middle class critics and the delight of middle class cartoonists!
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| Norton & Iris, Islington |
More obviously prosperous, this sitter from Islington looks at the camera with a confident expression. The braid trim on her sleeves appears in fashion plates from around 1861 to 1863, so I can date this photograph to around then. Of course she is also wearing the ubiquitous crinoline!
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