Hand-Colored Photography

Hand-coloring of photographs dates to the earliest forms of photography, as seen in this colored daguerreotype. The practice continued for over 110 years.

By 1864, when this photograph was taken, the use of albumen paper was commonplace in photography. This photographer nevertheless chose the older salted paper process because its mat surface was more receptive to paint. This pair of photographs shows that the quest for verisimilitude sometimes involved not only adding color but also placing the subject in a naturalistic setting.

This photograph of a white child and a slave nanny is a reminder of the complexities of interracial relationships during the era of slavery in America. The portrait was of sufficient importance to its owner to merit production of duplicates. The first image is an ambrotype, a one-of-a-kind positive image. The second is a salt print duplicate made from a photograph of the original ambrotype resulting in a copy negative. The use of hand-coloring allows the photographer to restore detail lost in the reproduction and enlarging process.

Hand-colored photographs varied widely in quality and style, from examples of the highest refinement to those of comically low quality. The obvious difference in scale between the man and the woman in this photograph suggests that this is a composite of two photographs placed side by side and photographed to create a crudely joined tintype. The artist painted over the floor and background to hide the seam and extended the man’s elbow into the woman’s half of the photograph. This joining of photographs was a useful technique for those who lost a loved one before they had the opportunity to take a photograph together.

Hand-coloring ranged from lightly tinting cheeks or adding a sparkle to the eye to masterfully applied paints to create portraits virtually indistinguishable from a traditional painting. This lavishly painted photograph portrait demonstrates the merging of the two arts.