Masking an image, how did they do it?

[botticelli1972]

I was at a photo show the other week when I saw the most remarkable original 19th C. daguerreotype image, it was a simple portrait but the background was completely missing. Sorry but I could not afford it so I do not have an image but will do my best to describe. The background actually appeared almost “sandblasted” for lack of a better term, like etched glass soft and glittery with texture. The sitter looked liked he was masked out but did not display any scratches or other evidence of touching. His area was fully polished and you could see the edge from the figure to the background it was crisp and sharp. I can guess how they air abraded the background but what I am most curious about is how did they mask it off? it was almost a perfect cutout no soft edges on the masking, could it have been a form of silhouette cut out mask? Additionally, there was no tarnish on the background area at all, but some on the sitter in the polished area which might make the background some sort of paint or applique not etched but my first guess was air etched. The dealer did not know how it was made. An interesting side note is that it was in a double case and on the left side was an unexposed plate that had been engraved in remarkable handwriting giving the sitter’s name and the date, might be a nice touch to a modern work but my handwriting is just awful. -Larry

[dagist]

Larry,

What you had in your hands (and should have purchased) was a daguerreotype with a rarely seen Isenring background, named after the inventor of the process Johan Baptist Isenring, who invented this method of coloring daguerreotypes in the mid 1840s. You were correct in assuming that a stencil was used, because the background was added after the daguerreotype was processed.

The process worked like this. A piece of glass was held in place over the daguerreotype and the area to be masked-out was carefully painted on the glass. This image was then traced onto a suitable piece of tracing paper, and the area that was not to be colored by the process was cut-out. This cut-out was carefully laid on top of the bare daguerreotype to protect the areas that were not to be colored. The daguerreotype was then carefully slid into a box containing very fine particles of finely ground minerals of various colors. The box was shaken-up prior to inserting the daguerreotype, and the finest particles would then settle on the plate. It’s essentially a dusting process. The plate was removed from the dusting box (a name I just made up) and the cut-out (covering the primary subject) was then carefully removed, leaving the back ground evenly coated with the fine dusting of minerals.

If you examine an Isenring background with a magnifier, you will see multi-colored particles (grains), which, because of their extremely small size, can’t be individually differentiated with the naked eye. They thus form an overall tonality to the background which can look warm or cold depending on the combination of minerals. The background also tends to shimmer when viewed in certain types of light.

Because of their rarity, daguerreotypes with Isenring backgrounds are quite desirable and valuable to collectors, photo historians and photo conservators. I have only one in my study collection, and have many times turned down offers from people who wanted to buy it.

Regards,

Rob McElroy

Buffalo, NY

[CasedImage]

Good find Larry, you must track down the dealer and buy the plate or it will forever haunt you as the one that got away! I have never seen one and am most envious. On the handwriting a modern example can be seen on the home page of http://www.finedags.com by Casey Waters who will be one of our next galleries here.

Rob – thanks for the description, could you post a image of the one in your collection here?. Also can you or anyone else enlighten us as to how Southworth and Hawes did those portraits where the sitters head and shoulders seems to float on a white background, I am thinking of lot number 79 in the famous Feignbaum sale at Sothebys NY.

www.CasedImage.com

[botticelli1972]

you win some you loose some. But the funny thing is that I am pretty sure I saw the same image previously at a local antique sale a few years ago from the same photo dealer so he has had it a while, maybe next year I will get it.

As for the floating head thing I once read how they did it, it is actually a patented process so an accurate description is out there. This is what I remember of it: white painted wall and a ring of white triangles, points in, solid white at the perimeter (imagine a large spinning bicycle wheel with small paper triangles attached at the perimeter) that is spun with the sitter behind.

[jdanforth]

That’s freakin’ cool, Rob. Thanks for posting that information!

[Author]

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