Getty Museum
Betto (Groom) (2007.26.201.11)
Creator
Felice BeatoPhotographer · 1832–1909
All works by this person →Felice Beato was the first photographer to devote himself entirely to photographing in Asia and the Near East. He photographed in Japan, India, Athens, Constantinople, the Crimea, and Palestine. He settled in Yokohama and from 1863 to 1877 made hundreds of ethnographic portraits and genre scenes in Japan. He eventually opened a furniture and curio business in Burma. Beato's photographic career was
More on Getty ULAN- Date
- 1868
- Medium
- Hand-colored albumen silver print
- Culture
- English
- Department
- Photographs
- Institution
- Getty Museum
- Object ID
- a2d4488c-6743-4134-8dec-1a461e432503
Holding a harness while standing in front of a saddle--attributes associated with the duties of a betto (groom)--this elaborately decorated man stands with his tattooed back to the camera. An expensive undertaking, the tattoos were acquired over an extended period. Hand coloring allowed Beato to reproduce the tones of the tattoo that the camera was not able to capture. A study of similar photographs of this subject reveals that, in some cases, the colorists, in fact, created the tattoos.
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