Anonymous French Photographer

stereoscopic daguerreotype, with hand-tinting, black passé-partout and modern seal and backing, a Uwe Scheid collection label on the reverse, circa 1850s

Collection of Uwe Scheid, Germany

Charles Isaacs, Inc., Malvern, Pennsylvania, 2000

Michael Koetzle, 1000 Nudes: Uwe Scheid Collection (Cologne, 1994), p. 304 (this daguerreotype)

These evocative stereoscopic daguerreotypes show a lustful couple in passionate engagement. The plates are exceptional for their erotic subject and for the high level of detail. Rose-colored and flesh-toned tinting have been expertly applied to the sitters' flushed cheeks and exposed limbs, and the plaid fabric of the woman's voluminous dress has been rendered in red, purple, and blue. The plates are in essentially very good condition. There is light tarnish on the right plate that follows the passé-partout shape, as well as a few tiny isolated rust-colored deposits overall. The black passé-partout has crackled unevenly with age, and this has resulted in tiny black particles having become trapped between the plate and the glass. The stereograph has been re-sealed and re-backed. On the reverse, there is a small typed letterpress label: 'Sammlung / UWE Scheid' (letterpress) and '1.183' (typed). There is also a small white paper label with '01255 / 30' written in an unidentified hand in pencil. Other notations in an unidentified hand in pencil on the reverse are 'Rest. WJ 1.2.89' and 'Stenger.'
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