Ambrotype enhanced with a couple circa 1859

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Ambrotype of a finely enhanced couple.

The pose of the two lovers is surprising. The woman places her hand on her husband's shoulder while he holds his wife by the arm and their other two hands are clasped together, all signs of affection that were uncommon in the 19th century.

The other curiosity of this photograph lies on the back of it where the label of the photographer Eugène DELANNOY indicates in place of Ambrotype "Daguerreotype without mirroring by rapid Chinese process".

Patented in 1854 by James Ambrose Cutting, an ambrotype is a negative on a glass plate, which, when viewed in transparency, becomes a positive when placed in front of a black background.

The ambrotype was commonly used from 1854 until the 1870s. Less expensive and requiring a much faster exposure time than the daguerreotype, it was widely used by portrait photographers. To obtain the negative of this unique image, a previously cleaned glass plate was coated with a layer of collodion. After drying, a transparent varnish was applied, sometimes with touches of color. Presented on a background of fabric or black paper, it was delivered in a union case or frame, as with daguerreotypes, which often leads to confusion in identifying these two processes.