Full-length group studio portrait albumen CDV. Louisville, KY: Smith & Wybrant, 405 Main St., [circa 1860s]. Photographer's imprint to mount recto.

This captivating civilian carte de visite features a compelling group of four men casually gathered in a photography studio. The composition is highly engaging, with one gentleman standing and proudly displaying a framed, oval-matted albumen photograph to his three companions. A heavily bearded man sits comfortably in the center, flanked by the two other intently focused gentlemen who are studying the portrait. The image bears the prominent front mark of Smith & Wybrant at 405 Main St., a well-known photographic partnership operating out of Louisville, Kentucky. It offers a wonderful glimpse into civilian fashion, grooming, and the social importance of the photographic medium itself during the mid-nineteenth century.

[Photography, Early Photography, Historic Photography, Daguerreotypes, Ambrotypes, Tintypes, Cased Images, Union Cases, Albumen Photographs, CDVs, Carte de Visites, Cartes de Visite, Carte-de-visite, Cartes-de-visite, CDV, Cabinet Cards, Stereoviews, Stereocards, Stereographs] [Civil War, Union, Confederate]

The image is in very good condition. The albumen surface exhibits a rich tonality with excellent contrast, clearly highlighting the subjects' clothing, facial features, the framed albumen photograph they are viewing, and the studio's geometric patterned floor cloth. There is minor surface wear and light age-related fading typical of period photography.