Union Soldier picture

[noman]

https://images.search.yahoo.com/ima...search.yahoo.com&hsimp=yhs-001&hspart=mozilla

recognize the backdrop?

 

[James N.]

...recognize the backdrop?

No, but I think it's interesting he's wearing a five-button coat with a standing collar, similar to these fellows in my collection from the 13th Wisconsin:

According to correspondence I recieved from curator of uniforms at West Point, Mike McAffee, these were early-war uniforms issued and used by that state.

 

[Littlestown]

"When asked what was missing from the collection and collective memory of Wisconsin in the Civil War, former Wisconsin Veterans' Museum curator William Brewster did not hesitate:

"There is one piece that I know of that does not exist in any form (in the museum collection). That is a five-button Wisconsin state-issued sack coat, one of the two primary garments for an infantryman.

The blue coat was issued to soldiers in the 9th through the 17th Regiments, he said.

They were replaced with standard federal issue coats, and "as far as we know, there are none in existence. It would be the holy grail for the collection. One could be lurking in a private collection or in some granny's attic, but all we have are photographs," Brewster said."


Read more: http://host.madison.com/news/local/...542-11e0-a951-001cc4c002e0.html#ixzz3VcF2pCa4

 

[Littlestown]

No, I do not recognize the background. The photo's background looks like a stock background used by era photographers.

 

[rhettbutler1865]

No, I do not recognize the background. The photo's background looks like a stock background used by era photographers.

Yes, I've seen others with this background, and very similar. I think it is stock...

 

[James N.]

No, I do not recognize the background. The photo's background looks like a stock background used by era photographers.

Yes, I've seen others with this background, and very similar. I think it is stock...

There's no such thing as a stock background in period photography; suppliers of photographic materials like chemicals, brass mats ( made by Scovill who also made other stamped brass items like buttons ), cases, etc., etc. didn't make or provide them. In big cities backdrops were usually painted on canvas by theatrical scenery painters; in small towns they were home-made, often by the photographer himself. Careful examination of backdrops often provide clues as to where a photo was taken and by whom. ( That's why noman's asking the question. ) In an example from my own collection, when I posted this ambrotype on another forum a sharp-eyed reader recognized it as containing the famous ( among collectors ) Gabled House and Lone Pine Tree backdrop known to have appeared only in photos of North Carolina Confederate officers!

 

[rhettbutler1865]

Thanks, James. I stand corrected. (Thorough reply, BTW).

 

[Littlestown]

There's no such thing as a stock background in period photography; suppliers of photographic materials like chemicals, brass mats ( made by Scovill who also made other stamped brass items like buttons ), cases, etc., etc. didn't make or provide them. In big cities backdrops were usually painted on canvas by theatrical scenery painters; in small towns they were home-made, often by the photographer himself. Careful examination of backdrops often provide clues as to where a photo was taken and by whom. ( That's why noman's asking the question. ) In an example from my own collection, when I posted this ambrotype on another forum a sharp-eyed reader recognized it as containing the famous ( among collectors ) Gabled House and Pine Tree backdrop known to have appeared only in photos of North Carolina Confederate officers!

Thank you for the clarification and information. Guess I took comments like "The collection includes two carte-de-visites of Mr. & Mrs. O. S. Pence, taken at Rees studio in Richmond, Virginia, c.1861-1865. Each is posed beside photographer's stock background and chair." (http://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaxtf/view?docId=vt/viblbv00843.xml) to mean more than it actually did.

 

[James N.]

Thank you for the clarification and information. Guess I took comments like "The collection includes two carte-de-visites of Mr. & Mrs. O. S. Pence, taken at Rees studio in Richmond, Virginia, c.1861-1865. Each is posed beside photographer's stock background and chair." (http://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaxtf/view?docId=vt/viblbv00843.xml) to mean more than it actually did.

In a case like that, they probably meant the one he invariably used in his pictures. It might also mean there were no distinguishing features about the background; many backdrops did in fact look similar and utilized a sort of "stock" or standard features, eg. tents, flags, funny-looking cannon, stands of arms, houses, trees, etc., etc. Careful examination can reveal however many different subjects posed against what was obviously the same backdrop, and if one subject is ( or can be ) identified, the others can be assumed to have been taken in the same place, or in the case of traveling photographers, by the same artist. Occasionally one gets lucky, though, and encounters something like this which presumably was unique:

 

[James N.]

I'll also add that CDV's like the one above usually have backmarks which identify the photographer and location of his studio, but of course cased images ( Daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, and tintypes ) usually do not. That's why studying elements of backdrops, etc. are especially important when trying to identify them.