[Family of Eight, Dijon, France]

CultureFrench
Titles
  • [Family of Eight, Dijon, France]
Date1859
PlaceDijon, France
MediumAmbrotype
DimensionsImage: 3 7/16 × 4 3/4 in. (8.8 × 12 cm)
Other (Border): 5 11/16 × 7 1/16 in. (14.5 × 18 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by the Caroline Wiess Law Accessions Endowment Fund, The Manfred Heiting Collection
Object number2004.758
Non exposé

Explore Further

Department
Photography
Object Type
Description

Introduced in the 1850s as an affordable alternative to the daguerreotype, an ambrotype is essentially a glass-plate negative that appears as a positive image when laid against a black backing. This small example, with three generations of a family packed into its frame, would have been made at a relatively small cost, but nonetheless treasured by those depicted. Unlike paper prints, which were more easily signed, inscribed, or stamped, daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, and tintypes have often lost their history of authorship and ownership as they have passed from family attics to flea markets to the art market.


Provenance Research Ongoing Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
date, place, in black ink, on remaines of original white paper label, affixed to verso of case

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.

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Portrait of a Young Woman
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R.M. Ashworth
July 1856
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Miss Sophia Christy
about 1857
Ambrotypes
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Mark Ashworth
June 1856
Ambrotype
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Mother and Child in White Dress
1860s
Ambrotype with applied color
2004.792
[Man with Gun]
1865
Ambrotype in leather case
90.492