| Abstract: | Abstract This enormous studio sample sheet, featuring nearly 850 famous faces, and figures, spread across seven feet of thin canvas, was perhaps displayed in the window or behind the counter of a photographic establishment, or carried to small towns in England and abroad by a travelling studio salesman, in the hope of satisfying a popular demand for pictures of the Royal Family, political figures, stage and music hall performers, and celebrities of the day1 (Figure 1). Each tiny photograph carries a number; there are about 32 of these reduced images on each 4 ½ × 5 ½ in. albumen print, and 27 such prints pasted along the length of the canvas. They appear to have been reproduced by photographing a composite layout of printed portraits, as the images lack the sharpness of prints made directly from the negative. The first in a series of portraits of a particular person is labelled, and successive numbered poses of that person follow, until the next series begins. Thus, Lilly Langtry is featured in 25 poses, in the upper left-hand corner of the canvas roll, (Figure 2) and in four or five other poses on two other albumen sheets. Queen Victoria is offered in ten different views, (Figure 3) and the very popular Princess of Wales in at least 25 (Figures 4 and 5). Almost all of these celebrated faces are English, although the youthful German Emperor is shown (see Figure 4). The pictures of the ‘Duke of York's Wedding Group’ enable us to date the prints as after 6th July 1893 (see Figure 5), so it is likely that these images were offered in Promenade size (7 ½ ? 3 ¾ in.) or Boudoir (8 ¼ × 5 in.) style, both of which were popular in the 1890s. However, the variety of studio settings and posing styles suggests that even older carte-de-visite and cabinet-card portraits were being enlarged and reissued in the larger formats popular in 1893. |
