Figure 1.--This is a charcoal obviously based on a photograph. The boy is unidentified. It is also ujndated, but would habve been taken arounfvthe turn-of-th 20th century. The boys wears a double-breasted knee pants suit with what looks like an Eton collar.

Charcoal notice charcoal drawings that are obviously based on a photograph. We have seen a number of these over the years. We are not sure of the process done to achieve the end result. Hopefully a HBC reader will know something about the process. There may have been an original portrait printed on a medium. Then charcoal was applied to augment the image. Unlike a photograph, a charcoal could be done in much larger sizes. We think that the principle was that an actual drawing was more of an art work than a photograph. Photography was seen as more of a mechancical process than art. So even a deawing basecd on a photograph was more of a piece of art. The end result to us seems less appealing than either a photographic portrait or a drawing. But apparentlysome custimers during the Victorian era liked them. Not all studios offered this service, but even those which did not could send orders to services that did. All they had to do was to send along a photographic portrait on which the charcoal would be based.

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Created: 1:41 AM 11/10/2009
Last updated: 1:41 AM 11/10/2009