Portrait of a Young Man
Unknown Artist
c. 1855
Medium
ambrotype with hand-tinting
Dimensions
{"overall":{"height":0.08,"width":0.069,"depth":0.023}}
Classification
Photograph
Department
Photography
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
The Julius L. Greenfield Photography Acquisition Fund
Accession Number
2022.14
About this artwork
It seemed a miracle that anyone could afford to have an accurate record of their own likeness or those of their loved ones. This portrait is an excellent example of the hundreds of thousands of portraits produced by commercial photographers in mid-nineteenth-century America. Small scale yet housed in an elaborately decorated thermoplastic case, it was intended to be carried by its owner or displayed on parlor tables or knickknack shelves.