Portrait of an unidentified dark haired woman in a lace edged bonnet, London, Ontario.

Another example of the dress being painted by the artist, rather than being photographic .

Again because this is processed as a "Chromotype, printed between 1877-1880" I suggest this is a reprint.

Hi there. While I don't know who this woman is, I think I can better date your photograph.

It is marked with "chromotype patent" under the image. Chromotype process, invented by Claude Lambert, created excellent images that were not prone to fading and had a glossy finish. They were prone to scratching and curling, however, and often are found peeling off their backings. It was a process that had a limited period of popularity, circa 1877-1885, or so. Based on the old-fashioned cut of her dress, I would guess this photo is earlier rather than later, so perhaps 1877-1880.

All these Chromotype photos in the collection are actually copies of the original Chromotype images. As a regular film copy they have faded. Some show mark of holes at the top of the photo where the print was mounted with a pin and exhibited. The pinhole was retouched with ink that did not fade with the rest of the photo. I suspect that the collection was assembled for an anniversary of some church or school and as such there are original portraits as well as old photos that were copied. When the collection was used again they had to copy them to normal B&W photo paper which faded with time.

Question is: where are the original Chromotype photos? Probably in some church or school archive in London. Time frame for Chromotype photos is 1874-1880. The simpler Bromide process killed it but went on for years when enlarged pictures / portraits were made and they wanted to guarantee their permanence.

The history of the Chromotype process was elaborately discussed in a special issue of Photographic World and in five issues of Photographic Canadiana

Robert Lansdale.

FASCINATING. THANKS FOR THE INSIGHTS.