Getty Museum

[Mrs. R. Holdsworth]

Date

February 16, 1853

Medium

Hand-colored daguerreotype

Culture

British

Department

Photographs

Institution

Getty Museum

> In 1841, less than two years after the introduction of the daguerreotype process in France, Richard Beard, a coal merchant and entrepreneur, secured the sole patent for daguerreotypes in England, Wales, and the British colonies so that anyone who used the daguerreotype process in those countries was expected to pay Beard a license fee. That same year Beard opened England's first rooftop daguerreian portrait studio on Regent Street in London. The London newspaper *The Times* remarked favorably on the Beard studio's photographs: "The likenesses which we saw were admirable, and closely true to nature, beauties and deformities being exhibited alike." > > Beard's studio was a great financial success. In 1842 he opened a second studio at 34 Parliament Street and a third at 85 King William Street. In 1850, however, like many operators of photographic studios, he went bankrupt. In his case it was because of legal disputes over payment of the license fees required to practice daguerreotypy. Beard continued to sell photographs until 1857, when he passed the business on to his son. > > This portrait of Mrs. R. Holdsworth was most likely made in Beard's King William Street studio. The daguerreotype came into the J. Paul Getty Museum's collection with a receipt slip bearing that address, signed by Beard and dated the 16th of February 1853. This image offers an excellent, well-preserved example of elaborate hand-coloring—an extremely popular practice. The sky, the flowers, the sitter's dress, and the tablecloth have been delicately tinted to create the illusion of natural color. > > Although more affordable than a painted portrait, photographs were expensive for the average customer in the nineteenth century. Nevertheless, from the early years of photography, there was a tremendous market for photographic likenesses. While the props used in such traditional portraits were often symbolic of the sitter's identity, the blossoms that Mrs. Holdsworth holds in each hand are also used here as a pictorial element and as a more generalized attribute of femininity. Adapted from getty.edu, Interpretive Content Department, 2008; with additions by Carolyn Peter, Department of Photographs, J. Paul Getty Museum, 2019.

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