SHORT JOURNEY ON THE HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHIC PORTRAIT
A HISTORY, AN ADVENTURE, A JOB AND AN ART
Daguerreotypes, ambrotypes,
ferrotypes, cabinet cards, cartes-de-visite photographs: between the beginning
of photography and the diffusion of the techniques which allowed images to
be duplicated, the portrait was the most common genre, which shows an increase
in the identity-seeking process by society at large.
Researchers who had a rich and adventurous spirit immediately dedicated themselves
to Photography. Their dream of going beyond the Pillars of Hercules, in order
to reach the ocean of the reproduction of reality, was at last fulfilled;
but also average craftsmen, opticians, painters, designers and adventurous
people did the same; all of them being confident that this new technology
introduced by Daguerre would bring social and economic improvements.
The former and the latter, some well and some not so well, quickly introduced
the protocols which regulated their activity, both from the strictly technical
point of view, and from the more frankly “artistic” one. It was
then, at the beginning of the second half of the XIX century, in the “ateliers”
filled with light, that these photographers started clearly defining the composition
of images, what pose to keep, how to arrange light: this is why we can now
find portraits of people of the past, if we open the drawers of our grandma
(and if the portraits have not already been stolen by junk dealers). They
are people like us, and who knows what stories are hidden in their eyes; these
men, women and kids are not there anymore, but, when we observe the portraits,
it looks as if they were still alive, as they were alive in the photographer’s
studio. Some portraits show us shyness or shamelessness towards the photographer,
sometimes boredom and alienation because of the long exposure time and the
tiredness involved, sometimes pride for being immortalised with the uniform,
with one’s own work tools, next to the hunting dog, or with one’s
own family, as if to give a hint to the contemporaries and to the future generations
of the social status these people have reached and firmly established.
The daguerreotypes are portraits made on silver-plated sheets of copper, which
were polished to the point of reflecting like a mirror. Although they are
small, they are extremely clear and infinitely rich in detail. They were put
into silk- or velvet-coated elegant little boxes; ambrotypes were made on
glass plates. This technique was cheaper, but as valuable as the daguerreotype
one if made by experts: ferrotypes are made on iron plates and they are even
cheaper; cabinet cards consist of albumen prints mounted on a piece of cardboard.
They were used for family albums; the cartes-de-visite photographs are smaller,
like visiting cards.
Images, pictures, portraits of people: documents and monuments.
They were monuments for the family and social circle at the time they were
taken.
They are documents for the people for our time, who can study both the individuals
and the period in which these old portraits were made.
...but this is a different subject, which needs separate analysis.
Let’s now have a look at some images, daguerreotypes, tintypes, ambrotypes,
cabinets and cdv : see in italian page 
