Unidentified photographer 1861-1865 Civil War Soldier
Tintype, full plate, hand-coloured Cornell University Library Curational comment from "Dawn's Early Light: The First 50 Years of American Photography", October 20, 2011 - May 4, 2012, Hirshland Exhibition Gallery in Carl A. Kroch Library, Cornell University
This tintype portrait has a hand-painted background, seemingly transforming the portrait from a studio to a battlefield setting. Inexpensive, durable, and easily mailed home, tintypes were immensely popular with soldiers and their families.
