Date of photo please - Completed

[Rufous Treecreeper]

Hi all,

This photo original must have hung on someone's wall because it is about 45cm x 25cm, trimmed into an oval and hand-coloured.  It has a cardboard back with no information.  My guess is 1900 - 1909, am I in the right ball park?  If have an era I might be able to work out who he is 

Thanks,
Mo

Having trouble attaching photo!  Will try again

Hurray, here he is

[chinakay]

Okay, this is a guess....but I am thinking it may be an 1890s photo that has been copied during the time span you mention.

The reason I say this is that it has been overpainted. This was a technique popular during the first decade or so of the 20th century, when enlarging lenses, used to make a copy of a photo, were not too well developed yet, and gave results that were a bit indistinct. Overpainting was done by the photographer to sharpen the image up, and may have included colour.

Just my guess, and you may get others.

Cheers,
China

[Rufous Treecreeper]

Thanks China, good information to have.  Maybe someone who died and then memorialised???
 
By the way, the picture has an excellent set of fingerprints left in the overpainting, on the outside edge, where my scanner didn't reach.  An amateur job maybe?

Thanks again,
Mo

[jim1]

for once I'm disagreeing with China I think this is Edwardian.The shirt collar & tie were typical of this time.

jim

[Rufous Treecreeper]

Hi Jim - they are very distinctive aren't they?

Thanks for your thoughts,
Mo

[chinakay]

Jim disagrees with me all the time...he's just much too sagacious to say so publicly

Jim knows more about men's clothing than I do...as I said, it was just a guess. Not about the overpainting, though, it was quite popular during that time frame.

Cheers,
China

[Rufous Treecreeper]

All good to know.  Now I need to consider the likely suspects.

Thanks to you both for sharing your knowledge,
Mo