Mansportret 1880 - 1886

This small portrait is by an anonymous artist, and its age has given it a sepia tone. The ambrotype, popular in the mid-19th century, was a new and accessible way for people to record their likeness. What does it mean to have one's portrait taken? For many sitters, this may have been one of the few times in their lives they were able to represent themselves for posterity. The stern expression of the sitter is reflective of the era's photographic conventions, but I wonder what dreams or secrets the sitter held? What narratives and identities were not captured? The sitter, likely from the middle class, wears a modest suit and bow tie. His identity, like the artist's, remains a mystery, leaving us to ponder the many untold stories of the past. In its preservation, the ambrotype asks us to contemplate history and imagine the lives of ordinary people.