c. 1895 – Portrait of Dorothea Pries (called Fürst) in a studio in Hamburg, Germany. Scan © Mark Zanzig/Zanzig.com/Photo: Knackstedt & Näther
The story behind the image
Finally, an antique photo that carries some decent information on the person that has been photographed. As per the handwritten comments on the back, this young lady is Sophia Henriette Dorothea Pries (called Fürst). She was born in Lübeck, Germany, in October 1862 as the daughter of master shoemaker Hans Friedrich Pries (called Fürst) and his wife Elisabeth Catharina Margaretha (nee Lindenberg). Her birth record can be found under #747 on Familysearch.
Apparently she became a maid and moved to Hamburg. She never got married and died at the age of 34 years – shortly before her birthday and way too young – on the 13th October 1897 in the Marien Krankenhaus. She must have been working for a wealthy family as her last address is An der Alster 21, one of the prestigious locations in the city. (Source: Death Register, City of Hamburg, #1539/1897.)
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The photo studio
This large cabinet photo was shot by Knackstedt & Näther, a company from Hamburg in Germany with an exciting history that tells of the pains startups had to go through – even in 1889 when this company was founded by Wilhelm Georg Ludwig Knackstedt (1865-1916) and Hermann Gustav Näther (1866-1925). The full story can be found on Wikipedia (in German.)
The company operated a publishing and photography business. While they ran traditional photo studios in Hamburg and Cuxhaven, they also produced a variety of postcards at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Their portfolio included stereoscopic photos of attractive touristic locations.
Knackstedt & Närther went bankrupt in 1910, so any photo that carries their legal name (Knackstedt & Närther) has been produced in or before 1910.
Design ideas
The high resolution image
| Capture Date | c. 1895 |
| Publisher | Knackstedt & Näther, Hamburg |
| Location | Hamburg, Germany |
| Image Source | Cabinet Photo, c. 10 x 14.5 cm, mounted to solid cardboard, photographer stamp on verso |
| Digital Image Source | EPSON Perfection 4870 Photo |
| Digital Image Source Format | TIFF, 48 bits/pixel, sRGB |
| Edited Image Format | JPEG, 24 bits/pixel, sRGB |
| Edited Image Dimensions | 9285 x 13853 Pixels |
| Copyright | Mark Zanzig/Zanzig.com/Photo: Knackstedt & Näther |
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