Portrait of a Beggar Girl

Art Historical Context

**Portrait of a Beggar** (1860s) is a poignant carte-de-visite photograph by an anonymous American photographer, capturing the stark realities of 19th-century life. Produced as an albumen print—a using egg whites to create a finely detailed, warm-toned image on a small card mount (10.8 × 6 cm)—this intimate portrait exemplifies the era's booming photography trend. Carte-de-visites, pocket-sized visiting cards popularized after 1859, were affordable and collectible, allowing everyday people to own images of celebrities, family, or social types like this young beggar girl. In the turbulent 1860...

About the Artist

American 19th Century

The artist cataloged as "American, 19th Century" represents a collective of unidentified painters active in the United States during the nineteenth century, with 380 known artworks preserved in this virtual museum's collection. These works span a diverse array of genres typical of the era, including portraits, landscapes, still lifes, and genre scenes, reflecting the burgeoning artistic output of ...