anonymous
family with boy in dress, c.1880

Tintype
Image: 12.7 cm x 17.5 cm

Estimate: $400

This photograph was in PHG’s exhibition “To the Dogs”. Typical of a tintype the brownish hue of the murky image that makes the people difficult to see creates a sense of mysterious presence. The tintype photographic process, also called ferrotype, was developed in 1856. In this wet-plate process, the image lies on the metal surface rather than on glass or paper. Favoured by itinerant and street photographers for their relatively low cost, tintypes were popular for portraiture from 1856 to the early 1900s.