Figure 1.--This is an American Civil War era CDV, perhaps taken during the War, perhaps a few year after the War in the 1860s. One question we have about these tinted portraits is the accuracy of the color reproduction. The colors here seem at least plausible. Notice the slate and book the older girl is holding.

Long before commercial color photography was available, we note as early as the 1850s, artists touching up Daguerotype portraits. Usually the Daguerotype tinting was minor such as adding rosy cheeks or gold in jewelry. We have, however, found some more elaborately tinted dags. Hand painted cabinent cards appeared, but were not very common. At least we have noted reatively few examples in the photographic records. We think that it was more commn to color tint cabinents cards than the smaller CDVs. We also notice larger prints that were colorized. We do not know much about the process. We assumed that water colors were bushed on. Some photographs had only minor color added, such as rosy cheeks. Other photographs were so effectively done that they look close to color photographs. The whole process is one we have not yet researched. There are, however, several color tinted photographs archived on HBC. Some of the best examples we have noted are German. We note German costumes presumably children in a family. We also note a German mother and daughter. Another example is a German brother and sister (about 1885). And we see a beautifully done portrait of a German family (1890s). Another good example is an 19th century American family. The colors look plausible in these photgraphs, but we are not sure how the color information was conveyed to the painter who would have done his or her work long after the subjects had left the studio. This same color tinting or painting process was also used on a much larger scale to produce commercial postcards. Here the colors applied often had nothing to do with the colors of the clothes the children wore.

Photograph Types

Long before commercial color photography was available, we note as early as the 1850s, artists touching up Daguerotype portraits. Usually the Daguerotype tinting was minor such as adding rosy cheeks or gold in jewelry. But we see some beautifully tinted Dags. In fact tinting dags seems more common thzn the other processes that were developed. We also note minor tin-type tinting. Wealso note ambtotype tinting. It does not seem to have been very common, at least elborate tinting. Albumen prints became the dominant format in the 1860s. First CDVs and then cabinent cards. We do not notice many tinted cards. There seem to be fewer than is the case for Dags, especilly when you consider the explosion in the number of photographic portraits taken. Some enlargements were made and colorized. Next came silver gelatin prints after the turn-of-the 20th century. Most were at first done as sepia prints. We rarely see tinted prints.

Process

We do not know much about the tinting process. The photographer apparently made notes on the back of portraits to be tinted. Some of these notes were very basic. Others may have been more detailed. We are not yet sure about the type of tining used. We note gilding used on dags. This was popular to highlight jewlery. Adding rosy cheeks was also populr. We assumed that water colors were bushed on. Some photographs had only minor color added, such as rosy cheeks. This was the most common type of tinting. Other photographs were so effectively done that they look close to color photographs. This of cours would require very extensive hand work as it was aaborious process. The whole process is one we have not yet researched.

Country Trends

We have only limited country information on tunting, but have begun to build some country information. Much of the information is on Ameriica because the photographic record is so extensive, buut we have some European informtion. Most of our archive is American as is the case for HBC as a whole. We notice an unidentified American boy wearing a blue tunic in a 1850s Daguerreotype. We note another unidentified Americn boy wearing a rather bright blue suit in the 1870s, although we are unsure about the accuracy of the depiction. There are, however, several color tinted photographs archived on HBC. Some of the best examples we have noted are German. We note German costumes, presumably children in a family. We also note a German mother and daughter. Another example is a German brother and sister (about 1885). And we see a beautifully done portrait of a German family (1890s). Another good example is an 19th century American family.

Chronology

We note attempts to colorize black-and-white images from the earliest eforts at photography. Many Daguerreotypes were tinted. A few were colorized in great detail Much more common wee dags with minor color touches like redened cheeks and gilded gold jewelry (1840s). I am not entirely sure whi colorizing dags ws nore common than other portrait types. We suspect that the cost of dags was such that tinting them was only a modest additional cost that the well-heeled clients could easily afford. We also see ambrotypes with rosy cheecks, but not elaborate tinting like some dags (1850s. Nor do we note much effort to colorize tintypes beyound redened cheeks. Albumen paper and CDVs appeared in France (1850s). They became the dominant portrait types (1860s). We notice some beautifully colorized CDVs, but it was not very common to do so. This was even more true for caninent cards shich appeaed in 1886. Studios could semd portraits with color instructions off to studios which specialized in this work. Nitrate-gellarin paper appeared at the turn of the 20th century. At the same time the Brownie and other convenient cameras and improved films caused an explosion of amteur snapshots. These were rarely colorized. Studio portraits could be colorized for an additional fee. This was popular, but because oif the fee, only a small portion of the studio portraits were colorized. Some of the work is very good, but it was very difficult to get the skin tones just right, in pat because the studio was working ih a black and white image.and the grey tones interfered with the tinting. Colorization was done into the 1940s and early 50s when color photography became more commercilly available. A good example is an unidentified American boy about 1930.

Accuracy

The colors look plausible in these photgraphs, but we are not sure how the color information was conveyed to the painter who would have done his or her work long after the subjects had left the studio. This same color tinting or painting process was also used on a much larger scale to produce commercial postcards. Here the colors applied often had nothing to do with the colors of the clothes the children wore. We think the portrait tinting may have been more accurate. We suspect that customers would have wanted their portraits to look simething like their actual clothes, but we can notnot yet conform this with period sources. It is of course important to HBC because the tinted photographs potentially offer information on the color of clothes worn in the 19th and early 20th century.

Quality

The colorized images we have found vary widely in quality. A good example is an American photograph of two unidentified children taken we think in the early-1910s. It is not very well done. We suspect that mother took into a local studio with only minimal standards to be colorized. Studios or firms specializing in color tunting could do much better work.

Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Sailor suits] [Sailor hats] [Buster Brown suits]
[Eton suits] [Rompers] [Tunics] [Smocks] [Pinafores]

Created: 2:58 PM 9/7/2007
Last updated: 1:12 AM 10/25/2017