Figure 1.-- This is a cabinet card Portrait Of the E.?. Mosely family. Other than the name of the family, we know nothing about them, other than they are fashionably dressed. Notice the voluminous sleeves on mother and the teenage girl. That was the height of fashion in 1895. Father is also smartly dressed. The boy wears a fashionable sailor suit, not the traditional style with stripes--note the squared off collar with an added white 'V' collar. The pants are bloomer knickers worn with black long stockings. Also notice his peaked school cap
This is a cabinet card Portrait Of the E.?. Mosely family. We think it may be the E.J. Mosley family, but that middle initial is difficult to make out. It was not a studion portrait. In fact the mount does not identiofy the studio. Rather the space normally used to identify the studio is used for a message from father, "Up I came with my little lot." We are not sure what that meant. Perhaps father had moved the family from London to a small town in the Midlands or North. The porrtatit was taken in May 1895. Other than the name of the family, we know nothing about them, other than they are fashionably dressed. Notice the voluminous sleeves on mother and the teenage girl. That was the height of fashion in 1895. Father is also smartly dressed. The boy wears a fashionable sailor suit, not the traditional style with stripes--note the squared off collar with an added white 'V' collar. The pants are bloomer knickers worn with black long stockings. Also notice his peaked school cap. One interesting aspect of this portrait is that it is not a studio portrait. Rather it was taken outdoors in front of their home. We see more of these infron of the home portraits in England than any other country. We are not sure how this worked. Did the patents go to the studio and request this? Or did a photographer go door to door? However it worked, it is helpful because it provides some context as to the family's economic status, something we do not get from studio portraits.
