Photo-dating study hints

Focus on large format photographs

• Recently this column has covered some of the main types of 19th/early-20th century photograph, those of standardised form and appearance: cdvs, cabinets and tintypes. In addition, periodically, different, large-format prints of varying sizes, spanning broadly about 5-16ins (most typically 8-14ins), occur in family photograph collections.

• Sometimes larger photographic prints were necessary for representing large numbers of people, while for single portraits or small family groups substantial card-mounted photographs were a more ‘special’ choice than the smaller formats, ideal for display at home on a table, sideboard, mantelpiece, windowsill or on the wall.

• Large format photographs can date back as far as the 1860s/1870s, although such early examples are rare. They usually depict groups of well-heeled ancestors outdoors and include elite wedding and private garden scenes.

• Larger card-mounted prints became more common from the 1890s onwards and were popular during the early-1900s and 1910s, slightly less so between the wars.

• Large format photographs representing scenes such as school groups were set outdoors, but increasingly they were used for professional indoor studio portraits.

• Most examples show the photograph presented in the middle of a large, sturdy card mount, with a wide border around the picture.

• Cream/pale beige-coloured card predominated in the 1890s/ early-1900s; stronger shades like grey, sludgy brown, soft green and indeterminate hues favoured during the 1910s.

• The mount being thick, often a repeating surface pattern or series of ‘frames’ around the picture were pressed into the card.

• Sometimes the name/location of the photographic studio was printed or impressed onto the card below the picture; alternatively a label might be attached to the back.