From roughly 1860 to 1920 painted photography backdrops were a standard feature of early photography studios. Generally of rustic or quasi-classical design, but sometimes presenting a bourgeoisie

trompe-l'œil ''Trompe-l'œil'' ( , ; ) is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a two-dimensional surface. ''Trompe l'oeil'', which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into ...

, they eventually fell out of fashion with the advent of the Brownie and

Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...

cameras which brought photography to the masses with concurrent changes to public sensibility. Inasmuch as they were produced for six decades by local artisans, they can provide important clues to the

provenance Provenance (from the French ''provenir'', 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody or location of a historical object. The term was originally mostly used in relation to works of art but is now used in similar senses i ...

of old family photographs for genealogical research, and their staged influence lives on in "old-timey" photography sets. Furthermore, they are of some interest to specialized collectors of the

history of photography The history of photography began in remote antiquity with the discovery of two critical principles: camera obscura image projection and the observation that some substances are visibly altered by exposure to light. There are no artifacts or de ...

Gallery

Image:Private_Samuel_K_Wilson.jpg, Illinois, 1862 File:Sarah Davies (née Forbes Bonetta).jpg,

Sara Forbes Bonetta Sara Forbes Bonetta, otherwise known as Sarah Forbes Bonetta, (born Aina or Ina; 1843 – 15 August 1880), was ward and goddaughter of Queen Victoria. She was believed to have been a titled member of the Egbado clan of the Yoruba people in Wes ...

photographed by

Camille Silvy Camille-Léon-Louis Silvy (1834–1910) was a French photographer, primarily active in London. He learned photography from his friend, Count Olympe Aguado, in 1857, and became a member of the Société française de photographie in 1858. He t ...

, Great Britain, 1862 File:Beato,_Felice_(1834_–_1907)_-_Tattooed_japanese_men_-_ca._1870.jpg, Japanese men in 1870 with

Irezumi (also spelled or sometimes ) is the Japanese word for tattoo, and is used in English to refer to a distinctive style of Japanese tattooing, though it is also used as a blanket term to describe a number of tattoo styles originating in Japan, in ...

Image:H.S.M.Young_Eglinton_Factor.jpg, Scotland, 1875 Image:Bikrama_Singh.jpg, India, before 1877 Image:Marconi,_Gaudenzio,_Female_nude_with_pictorial_backdrop_1870-1879.jpg, France, 1870-1879 Image:SchlaySisters1878.jpg, The Town of Berlin (now Kitchener) Ontario, 1878 Image: Frederick Douglass with Helen and Eva Pitts.jpg,

Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 1817 or 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he becam ...

with his second wife

Helen Pitts Douglass Helen Pitts Douglass (1838–1903) was an American suffragist, known for being the second wife of Frederick Douglass. She also created the Frederick Douglass Memorial and Historical Association, which became the Frederick Douglass National Histo ...

and her sister (standing), c. 1884 Image:Leo Trotzki 1888.jpg,

Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian M ...

, 1888, Russia Image:LonaBarrison.jpg, One of the

Barrison sisters The Barrison Sisters were a risqué vaudeville act which performed in the United States and Europe from about 1893 to 1897; in the United States they were advertised as ''The Wickedest Girls in the World''. Origin Lona (Abelone Maria, 1871� ...

, Berlin, 1903 Image:Mignon Nevada Ophelia2.jpg,

Mignon Nevada Mignon Nevada (14 August 1886 – 25 June 1971) was an English operatic soprano. She was born in Paris, daughter of the American operatic soprano Emma Nevada and her English husband Raymond Palmer. She was named after the title character of th ...

Ophelia Ophelia () is a character in William Shakespeare's drama '' Hamlet'' (1599–1601). She is a young noblewoman of Denmark, the daughter of Polonius, sister of Laertes and potential wife of Prince Hamlet, who, due to Hamlet's actions, ends u ...

Ambroise Thomas Charles Louis Ambroise Thomas (; 5 August 1811 – 12 February 1896) was a French composer and teacher, best known for his operas ''Mignon'' (1866) and ''Hamlet'' (1868). Born into a musical family, Thomas was a student at the Conservatoire de ...

's opera, ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depi ...

'', c. 1910 Image:Johannes Holzmann aka Senna Hoy.jpg,

Johannes Holzmann Johannes Holzmann (30 October 1882 – 28 April 1914) was a German anarchist writer and activist who generally went by the pseudonym Senna Hoy. Early life and Berlin Holzmann, born on 30 October 1882 in Tuchel, Prussia (now Tuchola, Poland), hai ...

, 1914, Europe Image:Alice_Manfield_-_Guide_Alice,_Mt_Buffalo,_c1900-30,_SLV.jpg, Guide Alice, Victoria, Australia, c. 1900-30

References

External links

Reference workGenealogical researchCollecting
{{Photography Photographic techniques