Tinted Confederate Images

[Sweatshop Tailor]

The attached image is one that I linked to in an earlier discussion concerning pockets in RD II's. In pose and table cloth (when matched to photographer signed images) it is very likely to come from one of the Rees studios in Richmond. The back cloth on this ambrotype is a patch of period brown woven cotton cloth. I show it here outside of its keeper & case.

It is one of about a dozen Confederate images in my collection, but the only tinted image. I particularly like the fact that it gives some feel (gallery artist interpreted) of the 'Confederacy in Color'. I am sure that some of the images in the four 'Confederate Faces' books were also tinted, but of course the books are in black and white. It would be interesting to see if any other forum members either own, or have access to, tinted Confederate images which they could post on this thread.

[yeoman]

Re: Tinted Confederate Images

Sir, a nice image indeed,the subject seems to fill his jacket well. Do you think the material may have oxidized to this color over the years? Thanks for sharing part of your collection.

[BrandonEnglish]

Re: Tinted Confederate Images

Great, image thanks for posting! Do you know when it was taken?

[Sweatshop Tailor]

Re: Tinted Confederate Images

Mr Hadden,
Thank you for your kind comments. The color of the backing cloth is uniform on both sides, so it is unlikely to have seen much, if any, color change. It is truly an interesting choice for an image backing fabric, since of course most clear ambrotypes are backed either by black cloth or black paint. Yet, it does the job. As the cloth looks to be original to the image, I have tended to think its use might be due to materials shortages in Richmond. I would be interested to know if anyone has found similar atypical backings on other Confederate ambrotypes.

Mr English,
I am unsure when it was taken, but there seem to be a good deal of RDII (and RDI) portraits taken by the Rees gallery(ies) - see for example pg.89 in William Turner's Even More Confederate Faces. I would guess sometime in 1863 on the basis of the jacket type, but there is a danger of circular logic in that...

[Sweatshop Tailor]

Re: Tinted Confederate Images

This is a tinted image by the Richmond Rees galleries c.1862 of Maj Gen William Wing Loring and published in the outstanding book: Cased Image Photographs from the Collection of the Museum of the Confederacy. This book which came out in 2003 is well worthing obtaining from the MOC!

Unfortunately only a few pages of the book are in color, and a number of Rees soldier portraits similar to the one in my collection are only reproduced in black and white...