C. 1890 – A Carte de Visite (CdV) photo shows a couple in a studio in Stuttgart, Germany. Photo: Hermann Brandseph
The story behind the image
If you follow my blog you know that I am a big fan of antique portrait photos. Sadly, many of them come without any personal information, just like this one. At least we typically get the name and location of the photographer. The photo technique and clothes can help determining the approximate shooting date (which is usually a range of years.)
So, this photo was captured by Hermann Brandseph (1857-1907) who was one of the pioneers in German photography. He even has an entry at Wikipedia (in German). He got trained in Geneva (Switzerland), Darmstadt (Germany), and London (UK). Finally he joined his father’s business in Stuttgart in 1881 and took it over entirely in 1883. He grew the business to 37 employees in 1887. He died, way too early, in 1907.
I like this portrait, even if we don’t know whether he actually shot the image by himself, or one of his staff members. But the lady looks firednly, yet proud and confident, which is great. The gentleman – most likely her husband – looks quite grim, and the beard hides some of his features, so we cannot say too much about him.
The image was probably taken around 1890 which is suggested by the clothes, the simplistic arrangement, and the golden frame and logo.
I like it. A lot.
The high resolution image
| Capture Date | undated, c. 1890 |
| Photographer | Hermann Brandseph |
| Location | Stuttgart, Germany |
| Image Source | Albumen print from a glass negative, mounted, CdV format (c. 6.3 x 10.2 cm) |
| 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 | 6341 x 9982 Pixels |
| Copyright | Photo: Hermann Brandseph, Stuttgart Scan: © Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com |
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