Woman, Marsters, Baltimore, c. 1850s

A lightly hand-tinted quarter-plate daguerreotype portraying a seated woman dressed in a dark gown and bonnet tied beneath her chin. Her hands rest in her lap, and the carefully arranged folds of her dress extend across the foreground. Subtle applied coloring enhances the portrait, which is presented behind an elaborately shaped gilt brass mat within its original half-case.

Joseph D. Marsters was a prominent Baltimore daguerreotypist who operated a photographic establishment at 147 Lexington Street during the 1850s. His work was exhibited at the Maryland Institute in 1850, and contemporary accounts recognized the quality of his photographs. The restrained application of color in this portrait illustrates the practice of hand-tinting daguerreotypes, a specialized technique that introduced selected touches of color to the otherwise monochromatic photographic image.

Photographer: Joseph D. Marsters, Baltimore, Maryland

Format: Hand-tinted daguerreotype

Size: Quarter-plate

Date: c. 1850s

Condition: Very good (half-case)