"…[T]he young Queen Victoria was remarkable for the number of her ways of smiling. And by the more discerning people who had the privilege of studying her features and manner in the earlier years of her reign, the diversity of her smiles, which seemed to come as much from her heart as from her brain, was rightly regarded as no less significant of unusual sincerity than of high sensibility."
— John Cordy Jeafferson, Victoria, Queen and Empress, 1893, p. 83.
— John Cordy Jeafferson, Victoria, Queen and Empress, 1893, p. 83.
Someone asked me today why so many people have (to modern eyes) serious expressions in Victorian photographs.
The expression of most Victorian models isn't so much "serious" as it is relaxed. The reason people didn't tend to smile in early photo portraits stems from the painting tradition: In paintings, since the model has to hold exactly the same pose for hours on end, after a while a smile turns into a hideous grimace. They tried to keep a relatively neutral expression because it was more comfortable during long modeling sessions. When photography was getting started, the earliest photos took up to several minutes to produce so there was a similar strain involved with maintaining an active expression. Even when photographic technology improved and photos became faster to produce, the old painting traditions of modeling held fast for a while, especially in formal portraits. When amateur snapshots started coming into fashion at the end of the 19th-century though, photos were fast enough and the situations were informal enough that we see plenty of smiles and vivid expressions.
Some of my favorite photos of smiling Victorians from our own collection:
The expression of most Victorian models isn't so much "serious" as it is relaxed. The reason people didn't tend to smile in early photo portraits stems from the painting tradition: In paintings, since the model has to hold exactly the same pose for hours on end, after a while a smile turns into a hideous grimace. They tried to keep a relatively neutral expression because it was more comfortable during long modeling sessions. When photography was getting started, the earliest photos took up to several minutes to produce so there was a similar strain involved with maintaining an active expression. Even when photographic technology improved and photos became faster to produce, the old painting traditions of modeling held fast for a while, especially in formal portraits. When amateur snapshots started coming into fashion at the end of the 19th-century though, photos were fast enough and the situations were informal enough that we see plenty of smiles and vivid expressions.
Some of my favorite photos of smiling Victorians from our own collection:
Photographing small children is always problematic, especially when both film and professional photography was expensive so shots were limited. I always think of the above as the "frazzled mother, smiling baby" photograph. I picture the mother spending 20 minutes trying to get the kid to sit still, then when she finally does settle down for two seconds the mom hisses at the photographer, "Take the photo NOW! I don't care what I look like!"
A friend who has children herself suggested it looks like the mother is using her right hand to tickle the child so she will laugh for the picture.
A friend who has children herself suggested it looks like the mother is using her right hand to tickle the child so she will laugh for the picture.
Some families solved the problem of squirming babies by sitting for what would come to be called "hidden mother" portraits. The mother would hide behind a curtain or other prop, holding the baby still. (In the above photo the baby is in someone's lap: look close and you can see the mother's outline under the sheet.) That way the photographer only had to wait until the baby itself looked happy, not try to coordinate two subjects at once. Hidden behind the curtain the mother could sing to the child, tell it stories, or otherwise talk to it without worrying about having her mouth hanging open when the photo was snapped.
I always imagine the dialogue behind this photo as something like this:
Small child: "Mama? When can we go to the candy store, Mama?"
Mother: "Soon, dear. Smile, now!"
Small child: "This place is boring, and that man just keeps hiding under that curtain attached to that funny box."
Mother: "He's a photographer, and that's his camera, dear. Please smile, for Mama's sake."
Small child: "When can we go to the candy store?"
Mother: "After you smile, dear. Please smile, now."
Small child: "I want candy..."
Mother: "Just smile, dear."
Small child: "Mama? When can we go to the candy store, Mama?"
Mother: "Soon, dear. Smile, now!"
Small child: "This place is boring, and that man just keeps hiding under that curtain attached to that funny box."
Mother: "He's a photographer, and that's his camera, dear. Please smile, for Mama's sake."
Small child: "When can we go to the candy store?"
Mother: "After you smile, dear. Please smile, now."
Small child: "I want candy..."
Mother: "Just smile, dear."
To see more historic photos from our collection, click on these links:
Photo of children
Photos of couples and families
Photos of groups
Photos of maids
Photos of men
Photos of nurses
Photos of various women
Photo of children
Photos of couples and families
Photos of groups
Photos of maids
Photos of men
Photos of nurses
Photos of various women
An article about how technology influences people's perceptions: http://www.digitalvictorianist.com/2011/12/smiling-victorians/_
Some photographic collections of smiling Victorians:
"18 Photos of Smiling Victorians": http://www.buzzfeed.com/lukelewis/18-photos-of-victorians-smiling#.ckPWL3QRa
"The Smiling Victorian" A Flickr collection of over 2,000 pictures of happy Victorians (and a few Edwardians):
https://www.flickr.com/groups/513477@N22/
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In a seaport town in the late 19th-century Pacific Northwest, a group of friends find themselves drawn together —by chance, by love, and by the marvelous changes their world is undergoing. In the process, they learn that the family we choose can be just as important as the ones we're born into. Join their adventures in
The Tales of Chetzemoka
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