Blad afkomstig uit een fotoalbum, met 5 foto's (ongemonteerde carte-de-visites) en met inkt aangebrachte randversieringen c. 1865 - 1870

This is a page from a photograph album made by Lady Filmer, likely in England in the mid- to late-19th century. It contains five carte-de-visite portraits, mounted and framed with hand-drawn ink decorations. The carte-de-visite, a small, easily reproducible photograph, became a wildly popular form of social currency during this period, particularly among the middle and upper classes. Albums like this one were a way of displaying one's social connections and affiliations. The act of carefully arranging and decorating these albums, as Lady Filmer has done here, speaks to the importance of visual presentation and social identity during this era. The album format itself reflects Victorian society's obsession with order, classification, and display, mirroring the ways in which museums and other institutions were organizing and presenting knowledge to the public. To fully understand the significance of this album page, one might consult genealogical records, social registers, and other archival materials to learn more about the individuals depicted and their place in the Victorian social landscape. We can study social history to better understand the artistic choices that were made here.