Full-length albumen CDV studio portrait. Dayton, Ohio: Louis Seebohm, ca 1860s. Photographer's imprint to mount verso.

This fantastic carte features a full-length portrait of a dapper young painter posed in the studio beside the tools of his craft. Dressed in a dark frock suit with a crisp white shirt and bowtie, he holds a painter’s wooden artist palette loaded with pigments, multiple brushes, and a long mahlstick across his forearm. At left, resting upon an adjustable wooden artist easel, is a completed oval bust portrait of a distinguished gentleman. The studio is further appointed with a classical pedestal and draped curtain.

Occupational cartes-de-visite capturing fine artists are among the rarest and most visually appealing trades documented in 19th-century photography. The direct inclusion of the working easel, mahlstick, palette, and an actual completed oval canvas makes this an extraordinary cross-medium study of Victorian portraiture, celebrating both the photographic and painterly arts in Civil War–era Ohio.

[Occupational Photography, Fine Art, Portrait Painter, Artist Studio, Palette, Mahlstick, Easel, Painting, Dayton Ohio, Louis Seebohm, Ohio Photographers, 19th Century Art, Civil War Era] [Photography, Early Photography, Historic Photography, Carte-de-visite, CDV, Albumen Photographs, Occupational Antiques, Ohio History]

Exceptional. The albumen print displays strong tonal range, warm hues, and sharp focal clarity. Mount remains solid and flat with very light handling wear and subtle, even age toning to the verso.