[Woman] 1845 - 1850

Calvert Richard Jones made this calotype print, titled "Woman," sometime in the 1840s. Photography at this time was a young medium, and it served the function of portraiture previously held by painting. Consider the sitter's expression and formal dress. This image is interesting because it represents a moment of transition when the rising middle class began to demand to be represented, a privilege that had previously been reserved for the aristocracy. Yet the woman is captured in a style recalling earlier, aristocratic portraits. What does this negotiation between the old and the new tell us about the social aspirations of the time? To understand this image better, one could research the history of photography and its relationship to social class in 19th-century Britain. A study of the art institutions that first exhibited and collected photographs would also be revealing. The meaning of art is always contingent on such contexts.