Countess of Westmorland. John Jabez Edwin Mayall, photographer (English, 1813 - 1901) about 1864 Victorian collagists were typically upper-class women. They took their photographic materials primarily from cartes-de-visite. Patented by André Adolphe Eugène Disdéri in 1854, the carte-de-visite was easily and inexpensively printed (). By the 1860s, _cartomania _had taken hold. It became customary to exchange _cartes-de-visite _ when calling upon friends and family. These small portraits measure 3 ½ x 2 1/8 inches, about the size of a playing card. It is not known whether these art

Countess of Westmorland. John Jabez Edwin Mayall, photographer (English, 1813 - 1901) about 1864 Victorian collagists were typically upper-class women. They took their photographic materials primarily from cartes-de-visite. Patented by André Adolphe Eugène Disdéri in 1854, the carte-de-visite was easily and inexpensively printed (). By the 1860s, _cartomania _had taken hold. It became customary to exchange _cartes-de-visite _ when calling upon friends and family. These small portraits measure 3 ½ x 2 1/8 inches, about the size of a playing card. It is not known whether these artists removed the photographs from the thick cardstock on which they had been mounted or obtained unmounted prints from the photographer. People also collected cards of the royal family, actors, and politicians (for an example, see this image of Princess Christina of the United Kingdom found in this album (). A woman’s collection of cartes-de-visite visually displayed her social circle and favorite celebrities. This photograph sits in an album that intermixes pages of unaltered cartes-de-visite with full page photocollages. The cartes-de-visite could be inserted in specially manufactured album pages that came with slots. The album’s compiler/collagist might add painted ornamentation to the slotted pages, as in this first page from The Westmorland Album. (Click on the alternate image above) This album was given the title The Westmorland Album at some point in its life because the portraits of the Earl and Countess of Westmorland appear at the top of its first page of photographs. However, the likely owner and compiler was recently identified by curators at the Art Institute of Chicago. The initials “VAY” found on the well-preserved red leather album cover ( cover) and in the watercolor design on the opening page suggest that Victoria Alexandrina Hare Anderson-Pelham, Countess of Yarborough (also known as Lady Yarborough, 1840-1927), assembled th

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