UNDATED – Portrait of a woman, taken by Lorenz Hansen in Kappeln, Germany. © by Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com/Photo: Lorenz Hansen
The story behind the image
The other day I acquired this Carte de Visite – or CdV – photo showing the portrait of a woman. It was shot by Lorenz Hansen in Kappeln, Germany, and is probably one of his early works, shot in the early 1880s. We know that because the back shows just his name and the job title ‘photograph’ (photographer). Also, the dress – with the prominent bustle – matches the period pretty well. Sadly, there is no further contextual information on the photo and no handwritten notes whatsoever.
The image has been cropped off at the bottom, probably to make it fit into a frame or album.
While it is difficult to estimate the age of the woman, I guess she is in her early 20s, and she has the serious, and somewhat sad look on her face. This is typical for the period as well, as it was easier to hold a neutral facial expression over longer exposure times. What’s more, portraits were seen as serious images, an evolutionary step after oil paintings and drawings of the past. People wanted to look serious as the photos were meant to be ‘for eternity’.
I really like this image.
Ah, and here is the direct comparison of the color-calibrated original with its digital restauration:
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The photographer
Lorenz Peter Hansen was born in 1857 in Branderup (Denmark). He married Clara Margareta Maria Amter in 1888. They had at least three daughters: Charlotte Marie (born 1889), Else Helene Marie (born 1891), and Ester Emma Bertha (born 1900).
Hansen became the encumbent photographer of Kappeln, Germany, a small town that had been serving the region as a commercial center for ages. Hansen had been working as a photographer since the 1880s and had won a first photography prize in 1893 in Hildesheim in Lower Saxonia, Germany. He expanded his portrait work with landscape photos that he published as cabinet photos.
Lorenz Hansen died on the 29th April 1910 in Kappeln at the age of just 52 years.
Design ideas
The high resolution image
| Capture Date | c. 1880 |
| Photographer | Lorenz Hansen |
| Location | Kappeln, Germany |
| Image Source | 5.8 x 9 cm black & white photo mounted to CdV cardboard, cropped at the bottom, 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 | 5554 x 8640 Pixels |
| Copyright | © by Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com/Photo: L. Hansen |
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