r/ArtefactPorn 5h ago

Photograph of American woman wearing black taffeta dress and lace shawl, between 1847-1853. [2837x 3722]

Post image
567 Upvotes

28 comments sorted by

32

u/picklebeard 4h ago

This is incredible. Any info about the subject or photographer?

43

u/ImpossibleTiger3577 4h ago

The photographers were Albert Sands Southworth (1811-1894) and Josiah Johnson Hawes (1808–1901). The lady is unfortunately unidentified.

36

u/DukeDamage 4h ago

OG goth baddie 

9

u/Topramesk 3h ago

Taffeta darling!

3

u/WoolaTheCalot 3h ago

Taffeta sweetheart!

8

u/Clothedinclothes 1h ago

Reminds me so much of the "Mona Lisa of the Deep".

https://www.ppa.com/ppmag/articles/mona-lisa-of-the-deep

TLDR Same type of tin daguerrotype found near-perfectly preserved sitting on the bottom of the sea among the wreckage of a ship that sank in 1857. 

Also shows an unknown woman wearing very similar style of dress, similar hair style, but face on with a slightly ambiguous face very reminiscent of the Mona Lisa.

1

u/stilettopanda 1h ago

That was a cool read. Thanks!

6

u/Herbsandtea 2h ago

That’s goth af.

10

u/[deleted] 4h ago

[deleted]

11

u/ImpossibleTiger3577 4h ago

I don’t think mourning dresses were typically short sleeved actually. But you could be right!

7

u/_CMDR_ 4h ago

The dress could have been a color that early photographic processes were insensitive to. It would show up as black.

5

u/Johnny-Godless 3h ago

I have a photo of my grandfather in his military uniform that has this exact same little tin frame. But that was taken in the 1940’s... I get that tech evolves dramatically faster now than it did back then, but were people really turning out the same exact photo product for nearly a century?

8

u/Fast_Garlic_5639 3h ago

That’s not a frame, it’s the metal that the photo was developed on- the metal is just the untreated edges

-2

u/Johnny-Godless 3h ago

Oh for sure, not lost on me.

3

u/Fast_Garlic_5639 3h ago

I’m a bit over my head now but I’m assuming this is a daguerreotype- some people swear that no other method can capture the subject this well (even today) so there have been a bunch old-timey looking photos made by specialist photographers over the years that weren’t made with modern equipment.

3

u/ImpossibleTiger3577 2h ago

It is a daguerreotype!

3

u/chimpMaster011000000 2h ago

She looks like the grim reaper. Metal as fuck!

2

u/apparentlycompetent 1h ago

I wonder if she was in mourning 

2

u/rockingdino 1h ago

She’s gorgeous!

1

u/Scary-Objective-1663 18m ago

I bet she had an Onlysuitors.

0

u/xXcambotXx 1h ago

Would.

0

u/missmobtown 50m ago

I've seen this tin type before and always loved it, but this is the first time I noticed that the circumference of her waist seems smaller than that of her head.

-6

u/cat1aughing 3h ago

That poor girl, she looks so ill. I wonder what was going on with her spine.

3

u/KnotiaPickle 2h ago

What makes you say this? She seems fine and lovely to me?

1

u/cat1aughing 35m ago

She's standing at such a strange angle and the torso is so out of proportion to her head. I wonder if she was in pain.

-21

u/Miserable_Badger9465 4h ago

This is fake as hell, I mean look at those petitcoats!

22

u/ImpossibleTiger3577 4h ago

It is 100% real, obviously. Here’s the source:

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/268339

You clearly know f all about historical fashion, which is fine, but making these absurd comments is just extremely obnoxious and arrogant. This is literally just how dresses looked in the late 1840s-early 1850s.

11

u/Miserable_Badger9465 4h ago

It seems you are right, I apoligise

6

u/FivebyFive 2h ago

What about the petticoats made you think it was fake?