TitleTintype of an unknown girlDate takenca.1870Description
The Library's comprehensive photographic collection reflects the evolution of the photographer's art from the 1850s to the present day. The earliest works employed glass plate processes such as the Daguerreotype. From this a slightly cheaper process was developed, using a fine sheet of metal. This was known as a tintype. Most of the early portraits held by the Library are of adults, so when this tintype of a young girl appeared at auction, the Library was keen to acquire it.
The tintype was created by a method similar to earlier wet-plate collodion practices, but using a thin sheet of iron that was lacquered and coated with an emulsion. From the mid-1860s onwards, these early photographic methods were overtaken by other processes, in particular dry-plate technologies which produced cheaper paper-based photographs.
Unfortunately nothing is known about the identity of the girl but her dress suggests that she was from a middle-class family. The taking of her portrait suggests a modest affluence that was able to afford the photographer's fee.
