A hand-tinted stereoview depicting a staged genre scene: a heavyset man in a patterned dressing robe over a white nightshirt and cap stands on a stone landing, holding a lit candle aloft in one hand and gripping a long-barrelled musket in the other, his mouth open as if in alarm. At his feet rests a wicker cradle containing a swaddled infant, and a small inscribed card is propped against the basket; the setting includes an arched doorway and a mullioned window with applied color suggesting stained glass. The overpainting is limited to costume details, the window, and the infant's wrappings, typical of period hand-coloring applied over a monochrome photographic base.
The rounded double-arch mount, staged theatrical composition with painted backdrop elements, and manually applied color are consistent with commercially produced English genre stereoviews of the 1860s intended for parlour stereoscope viewing.
Photographer/publisher: Unknown
Period/date: circa 1865
Dimensions: 175 x 85 mm
Condition: Good; overall even toning to the mount with light surface soiling, hand-applied color pigments showing minor flaking and fading, corners and edges of the mount intact, image layer stable with no significant tears.
Reverse: No verso scan available.
Keywords: stereoview, genre scene, hand-tinted, Victorian, nursery
Photographer Biography:
No verified biographical information available.
Shipping Information: Shipping (worldwide): EUR 12 (registered). Shipping to the USA at risk of the buyer.