age a photo please

[rich73]

help age a photo it was in me nans photos
we are not sure how it is but if we can age it
it may help

[Hibee]

She's sticking her head through a hole in the backdrop....so it's a matter of how old the backdrop might be.

Norris was still at this address in 1899.

Hibee

[jim1]

This is a copy of an 1850's ambrotype,early - mid I would suggest as this is when this pagoda type sleeve was popular.Her bodice which covers her shoulders similar to a cape & finishing in a V shape at her waist was also typical of this decade.Ambrotypes were printed directly onto glass & therefore are in reverse,you can just about see this as her bodice appears fastened on the mans side.
This is how she would have been at the sitting.

jim

[rich73]

thats great
so pretty oldish mid 1800s

 thanks for the help

             rich

[chinakay]

Agree with Jim on the date...it seems to me as if the girl's figure may have been superimposed on a more modern background when the copy was made, as typically photos from the 1850s and early 1860s had a blank background, maybe with a curtain draped down one side, but certainly not something this involved.

The girl is uncharacteristically fuzzy, too...ambrotypes (photos on glass) are known for their clarity of image. Possibly the later photographer's enlarger used in the reproduction? PrueM would know more.

Do you have any idea how lucky you are to have a photo from so early? We don't see many of these.

Cheers,
China

[macintosh]

At first glance I thought it was a young Queen Victoria, perhaps that is who she is intended to look like with her head through the backdrop and the  castle tower in the background.

James

[jim1]

I've never heard of a backdrop you could put your head through apart from 20th.C seaside snaps.
A young woman having her picture taken would want to look her best,in the latest fashion.
These backdrops were more representational than accurate but to have an 1850's womans body painted to portrait standard would be very expensive & the market would be very small.
I'm sure most Victorian ladies would find this undignified & who would want to look like someone's granny?
As China says this has been enlarged as the original would only be about 2 1/2 x 2 1/2 & superimposed onto an 1890's backdrop.You can see the lady is in a sitting position but there's nothing showing of what she's sitting on,also the photo was in reverse which is what one would expect to see with ambrotypes.

jim

[rich73]

Thanks China and jim
i love old photo's and tresure them very much
i think that this is the mother of my G G Garndfather Maria Walkley b1846
i have another 2 im confused about i am sure that the 3 boys together
is my G Grandfather Edwin (on left) b 1880 and his brothers would have to be from about 1900ish 
but not sure if its the same boys older with thier father with the little boy
or if its his father with brothers would be about 1880
do you know if the the larger group is before or after the 3 boys pic

[jim1]

The woman looks 18-20 so someone born 1830's if that helps.
The 2 photos of the men could be 1890's or early 1900's.Can you scan the backs & put them up.

jim