Caroline Lamb Norris

Art Historical Context

**Caroline Lamb Norris** (ca. 1855) is a striking waist-length portrait by Marcus Root, a pioneering American photographer known for his technical mastery in the early days of the medium. Captured as a photoprint—a paper-based image printed from a glass negative—this work exemplifies the transition from one-of-a-kind daguerre to reproducible photographs, making portraiture more accessible in mid-19th-century America Root, who ran influential studios in Philadelphia and St. Louis alongside his brothers, brought a refined sensitivity to his subjects, often posing them with quiet dignity against ...