953
and expensive photographs. These specifi c forms of
installation were miniature Colloido-Chloride, Print-
ing-Out Process, Ivorytype. Photographs on Ivory,
and Eburneum Print photographs were concealed and
embedded into jewellery or pendants, rings, bracelets,
brooches, pins, and badges. Crystoleum, Crystalotype,
Chromo-Crystal portraits were fi tted into brooches,
lids of pocket-watches, and other ornamental pieces of
jewellery as well. In such cases, the photograph was not
“intended for the public” as much as it was intended for
“personal” use, which is apparent not only by the size of
the photograph, but also by its location and the occasions
for which it was worn. The material on which the pho-
tograph lay was usually some precious metal or ivory,
but the photograph held the real and symbolic value,
which also expressed the personal emotional attachment
between the person depicted and the person wearing the
picture. One too could include Stamp Portraits (1855)
in this group. Although their medium was paper and not
noble metal or other valuable material, letter-paper, visit
cards, brochures, keepsake albums often had value for
the owners of these objects.
As more painters and dexterous craftsmen became
involved in photography, unique, high-quality artworks
were created with a combination of photographic and
painting techniques, for example, collages by Victor
Hugo like the Collage de Hauteville House, Guernesey,
1855 or Souvenir de Marine Terrace, 1855. The former
picture—having the inscription “Jersey is composed of
mysterious colours and details, and is reminiscent of the
form of a monstrance. In the focal point of the artwork,
a larger photograph taken of the cliff of the exile, can
be seen surrounded by other photographs. Decorative,
painted architectonic “frames” of the photographs were
placed around the original image and though it were a
“settings of precious stones.” The colours in the picture
of ultramarine, gold, and black, and the themes, which
were void of the elements of everyday life, impressed
upon the viewer a spiritual meaning. As a new mem-
ber of the Künstler Sänger Verein, an amazing tableau
created in 1858, served a similar function. The central
element of this composition was an artfully planned
text, decorated with graphical elements like illuminated
initials. The text was surrounded by 12 ambrotypes,
which appeared as ornaments of the frame as if they
were “precious stones.” This effect was enhanced by
the frame and its gilded surface.
Family trees and tableaux of boards, which were
made in the last decades of the 19th century, were made
for exact purposes in predetermined forms by specialists.
The genealogy of the Habsburg family, for instance, was
completed in 1864. It basically used graphic elementsMOUNTING, MATTING, PASSE-PAURTOUT, FRAMING, PRESENTATION
Harrison and Hill. Group Portrait of an Unidentifi ed Family.
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles © The J. Paul Getty Museum.