AMBROTYPES ~ 1854
For Educational Purposes
.jpg)
.jpg)
The ambrotype was introduced in the 1850s. During the 1860s it was superseded by the tintype, a similar photograph on thin black-lacquered iron, hard to distinguish from an ambrotype if under glass.
One side of a clean glass plate was coated with a thin layer of iodized collodion, then dipped in a silver nitrate solution. The plate was exposed in the camera while still wet. Exposure times varied from five to sixty seconds or more depending on the brightness of the lighting and the speed of the camera lens. The plate was then developed and fixed. The resulting negative, when viewed by reflected light against a black background, appears to be a positive image: the clear areas look black, and the exposed, opaque areas appear relatively light. This effect was integrated by backing the plate with black velvet; by taking the picture on a plate made of dark reddish-colored glass (the result was called a ruby ambrotype); or by coating one side of the plate with black varnish. Either the emulsion side or the bare side could be coated: if the bare side was blackened, the thickness of the glass added a sense of depth to the image. In either case, another plate of glass was put over the fragile emulsion side to protect it, and the whole was mounted in a metal frame and kept in a protective case. In some instances the protective glass was cemented directly to the emulsion, generally with a balsam resin. This protected the image well but tended to darken it. Ambrotypes were sometimes hand-tinted; untinted ambrotypes are monochrome, gray or tan in their lightest areas.
The ambrotype was based on the wet plate collodion process invented by Frederick Scott Archer. Ambrotypes were deliberately underexposed negatives made by that process and optimized for viewing as positives instead.[2] In the US, ambrotypes first came into use in the early 1850s. In 1854, James Ambrose Cutting of Boston took out several patents relating to the process. Although Cutting, the patent holder, had named the process after himself, it appears the term, "ambrotype" itself may have been first coined in the gallery of Marcus Aurelius Root, a well-known daguerreotypist, as documented in his 1864 book The Camera and the Pencil as follows:
"After considerable improvements, this process was first introduced, in 1854, into various Daguerrean establishments, in the Eastern and Western States, by Cutting & Rehn. In June of this year, Cutting procured patents for the process, though Langdell had already worked it from the printed formulas.
"The process has since been introduced, as a legitimate business, into the leading establishments of our country. The positive branch of it; i.e. a solar impression upon one glass-plate, which is covered by a second hermetically sealed thereto, is entitled the "Ambrotype," (or the "imperishable picture"), a name devised in my gallery.
Root also states (pp. 373): "Isaac Rehn, formerly a successful daguerreotypist, in company with Cutting, of Boston, perfected and introduced through the United States the "Ambrotype," or the positive on glass." What isn't mentioned in the referenced book is the particular year in which the term "ambrotype" was first used.
Ambrotypes were much less expensive to produce than daguerreotypes, the medium that predominated when they were introduced, and did not have the bright mirror-like metallic surface that could make daguerreotypes troublesome to view and which some people disliked. An ambrotype, however, appeared dull and drab when compared with the brilliance of a well-made and properly viewed daguerreotype.
By the late 1850s, the ambrotype was overtaking the daguerreotype in popularity. By the mid-1860s, the ambrotype itself was being replaced by the tintype, a similar image on a sturdy black-lacquered thin iron sheet, as well as by photographic albumen paper prints made from glass plate collodion negatives.
Ambrotypes and Tintypes
The invention of wet collodion photography processes in the 1850s allowed the development of two new kinds of photographs--ambrotypes and tintypes. These new formats shared many characteristics with the earlier daguerreotypes but were quicker and cheaper to produce. Primarily used for portraiture, each photo is a unique camera-exposed image and was available in the following standard-sizes. The most common size was the sixth plate.
- Imperial or Mammoth Plate - Larger than 6.5 x 8.5 inches
- Whole Plate - 6.5 x 8.5 inches
- Half Plate - 4.25 x 5.5 inches
- Quarter Plate - 3.25 x 4.25 inches
- Sixth Plate - 2.75 x 3.25 inches
- Ninth Plate - 2 x 2.5 inches
- Sixteenth Plate - 1.5 x 1.75 inches
The price of ambrotypes and tintypes ranged from 25 cents to $2.50 in the United States. (What cost $.25 in 1861 would cost almost $6.00 in 2009. What cost $2.50 in 1861 would be almost $60 in 2009.) During the American Civil War, southern photographers, such as George S. Cook, charged as much as $20.00 for a sixth-plate portrait.
Cased images typically include the image plate and a cover glass wrapped together in a brass mat, placed inside of a leather or thermoplastic case.
Ambrotypes
James Ambrose Cutting patented the ambrotype process in 1854. Ambrotypes were most popular in the mid-1850s to mid-1860s. Cartes de visite and other paper print photographs, easily available in multiple copies, replaced them.
An ambrotype is comprised of an underexposed glass negative placed against a dark background. The dark backing material creates a positive image. Photographers often applied pigments to the surface of the plate to add color, often tinting cheeks and lips red and adding gold highlights to jewelry, buttons, and belt buckles. Ambrotypes were sold in either cases or ornate frames to provide an attractive product and also to protect the negative with a cover glass and brass mat.
Early Photography Series 2 of 4 – Ambrotypes
By: James DaMico, Curator of Audiovisual Collections
The ambrotype is a direct positive image and uses the wet collodion plate process. The photographer mixes a liquid emulsion of gun cotton (combination of purified cotton with nitric and sulfuric acid), ether and alcohol. Dangerous stuff to be sure. The result is flowed onto the glass support. The negative is underexposed which gives it a creamy image tone. When placed against a dark background, the creamy image appears as the light tones of the positive image. The area without image particle (i.e. clear in the negative) shows the dark background and becomes the dark tones of the positive image. The black background is created in a variety of ways including coating the back of the glass with black lacquer, laying the glass on a piece of black fabric or using dark glass, often called "ruby glass," instead of clear glass. As with collodion negatives, ambrotypes are often coated with a protective varnish.
Timeline
Introduced. Patented in 1854, gained prominence by 1856 as Neff's Melainotype.
Peak. Popularity varied through the life of the tintype. They saw limited success in Europe, but were commonplace in American homes for decades. Before the carte de visite, they were the only alternative to more expensive types of photograph. The civil war years (1861-1865) saw great popularity among the soldiers. Then in the 1890s they were popular as quick and inexpensive image.
Waned.1900.
Last Used. 1930s. For a long time from the late 19th century to as late as the 1930s itinerant tintype operators worked the back roads and county fairs. The tintype held on for so long because it was the only type of "instant photography" making it a popular item sold to tourists at seaside resorts and county fairs.
Cartouch Paper sleeves
The tintype was usually presented to a customer in a paper sleeve, rather than cases. I’ve seen sleeves in bright pink, red, blue and just about every other shade. Some have embossed designs like this one, while others have printed decorations. You can usually pick out images created during the Civil War, because their sleeves were often embossed with stars and other patriotic symbols.
As time progressed, ingenious inventions such as paper mats (as seen below) became available, offering a more inviting format to autograph one's signature on the back. If the tintype is encased in a paper sleeve, identification is more likely to have occurred, although often these sleeves are tattered and worn. Many sleeves are a thin, soft newsprint material that does not hold up well over time.
In the early 1860's, a patented tintype sleeve of harder cardstock arrived. One prevalent example is stamped "Potter's Patent Paper Holders". Made of a white paper, and often embossed with stars and patriotic emblems of the Civil War, it was less fragile than newsprint, and held the tin type in place more securely. The "Cartouche" is a paper mat (or sleeve) with a decorative oval hole setting, cut for the image. When inserted in a cartouche, the tintype became the same size and format as the photograph (calling card photograph), thus allowing for display in the Victorian family photo album, alongside other same size CDV photos.
GORDON, Dianna Smith. 4" x 2 3/8" mounted in white stock with oval
reveal and embossed border. Front has printed line at lower edge:
"Potter's Patent, March 7, 1865" Cancelled blue revenue stamp on verso.
Older woman in dark dress with arms across waist. She holds a
daguerreotype case in one hand. Cheeks tinted pink. Gift of Nancy
& Randall Burkett, February 2006.
view larger image (scan #003578-0037)
 |
| R. W. POTTER'S PATENT MARCH 7, 1865 R.W. Potter of New York patented his picture card frame on March 7, 1865 and it is his patented card mount which is most commonly encountered amongst those with any patent markings printed on them |
 |
R. W. POTTER'S PATENT MARCH 7, 1865R.W. Potter of New York patented his picture card frame on March 7, 1865 and it is his patented card mount which is most commonly encountered amongst those with any patent markings printed on them |
https://www.jstor.org/stable/20020419
.webp)
Comments
Post a Comment