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2 images MARKED NEW LONDON WISCONSIN HAND WRITTEN DATED APRIL 24,1881 AESTHETIC BACK DECORATION
carte-de-visite, originally, a calling card, especially one with a photographic portrait mounted on it. Immensely popular in the mid-19th century, thecarte-de-visitewas touted by the Parisian portrait photographerAndré-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri, who patented the method in 1854. Disdéri used a four-lensedcamera, which made eight 3.5 × 2.5-inch (8.89 × 6.35-cm)negativeson one full-sized plate. The largeprintmade from that plate was cut up into small portraits, which were separately mounted on cards measuring about 4 × 3 inches (10 × 7.6 cm). These cards were inexpensive relative to other forms of portraiture, as eight different poses could be made at one sitting and the images required no retouching.
Cartes-de-visitebecame a fad and were commonly exchanged on birthdays and holidays; thecarte-de-visitealbum became a common feature of Victorian parlours inEuropeand theUnited States. During theAmerican Civil War,Mathew B. Bradyand other photographers did a booming business in them inWashington, D.C., andNew York City. The fashion forcartes-de-visitepeaked in the 1860s. Thecartesof celebrities and royalty remain collectors’ Questions welcomed
