Altered images: wasp waists in 1880s studio portraits from Cork and Belfast

 

Cabinet Card by Sauvy, 64A Patrick Street, Cork, Ireland, ca. 1885 (author’s collection)

 

 

Carte-de-visite studio portrait by T. Plimmer, 19 High Street, Belfast, ca. 1885. (author’s collection)

These studio portraits from the 1880s show two unfeasibly narrow-waisted women. One was taken in the Cork studio run by Paris-born Adam Alphonse Sauvy and the other by Thomas Plimmer in Belfast. Of course, these women would have been aided by some seriously constricting corsetry, however, upon closer inspection they also reveal that the photographic studio has aided them with some carefully placed retouching or ‘photoshopping.’

Both these close-ups show that the negatives have been doctored to create these wasp waists. If you look closely you can see where the waists were quite crudely reduced through the painting-in of a triangular shape on the negative.

Both outfits typify the mid-1880s. The Belfast lady’s stripped two-piece includes a basque bodice trimmed with jet beads. A high collar with an attached jabot, lace cuffs, and a draped over-skirt. The Cork woman’s lace outfit also includes a draped over-skirt and high neckline. Both wear corsages and the horse-shoe brooch worn at the neck of the Sauvy portrait is typical of the period. Fashionable hair was curled, centre-parted and loosely piled and combed upwards with curls around the forehead.

I love the way the studio props complement and mimic and the textures of the women’s outfits. Brocade curtains and velvet upholstery add to the visual layers in these images.

National Library of Ireland, Lawrence Collection, L_ROY_01918

Thanks to the preservation of the Lawrence photographic collection at the National Library of Ireland, we can see exactly where the Sauvy image was taken. The image above shows the Paris Studio on the upper floors of 64 Patrick Street, Cork. Unlike many of the studios, which sought cachet through fanciful connections with continental Europe, Sauvy was really born in Paris. He ran his Cork studio at this location between 1879 and 1893. This photograph shows that his studio was well-positioned on a main thoroughfare although he did have plenty of local competition. Other studios on Patrick Street alone included Henry Hunter at No. 28; Berlin Studio at No.61; Francis Guy at No.70 and William O’Callaghan at No. 102. Note the roof top addition which was most likely added around the time of this notice which appeared in the Cork Examiner on the 2nd of October, 1882:

“The photographic art – Mr. A. Sauvy’s studio, in Patrick Street, has undergone enlargement and renovation, and it is now among one of the best in the kingdom. New backgrounds and scenery have been erected in the operating room, while specimens of art on view outside and inside the studio are of the newest and best description. Those who patronize Mr. Sauvy are certain to get well executed photographs.”

Sauvy also had a branch on Dublin’s Grafton Street and appears to have lived in Dublin. One of his addresses was on the upmarket Morehampton Road and one of his children, Celestine, was born at Holles Street hospital in 1884. Sauvy died in Paris in 1916.

The Paris Studio on Partick Street was sold to German-born August Tuhten in 1893. Perhaps Tuhten was one of the many European assistants that Sauvy boasted of in his advertisements? Tuhten was resident in Cork from at least 1882 when he was listed as a mason in Cork’s Hibernian lodge. Prior to his Cork career, he had a family in London with Anna Zimmern. Their three children were born in Stoke Newington, London, in the 1870s. He also had several art-associated ventures in London and Leicester. He ran the Paris Studio in Cork up until the early 1890s. In the 1901 census he is listed as a ‘boarder’ in the Leicester home of Cork-born Louisa McCarthy. One wonders if they met in Cork? Their first child, Ivy, was born in Leeds in 1893 and was registered as Ivy McCarthy. A son Fred was born in Leeds in 1898 and another Alan in London in 1906. The entire family went to Canada in 1907 settling at first in British Columbia. This second relationship does not appear to have lasted and by 1916 August is living alone and states that he is a widow. He died in Hardisty, Alberta, in 1932. Louisa died in Powell River, British Columbia in 1961 at the age of 93.

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Sermonda Burrell and her brothers: Dublin carte-de-visite portraits

These beautifully dressed children are the Burrells: John Percy, Sermonda and Randulphus Clement who lived at Merrion Square, Dublin. Their cartes-de-visite portraits were taken in 1882 by the firm of Louis Werner, 15 Leinster Street, Dublin whose work is featured elsewhere on this blog. The family’s home was on nearby Merrion Square only a few minutes from Werner’s studio.

Randulphus wears a dark velvet dress tunic with shoulder wide lace collars and matching cuffs. John Percy is sporting a Norfolk style suit of knee length breeches with a long single-breasted jacket buttoned and a waist-belt. An advertisement for the Dublin tailors Hyam, 29 and 30 Dame Street from December 1882, reveals the variety of boys’ suits which were available in the city. They sold the following suit styles: Tunic, Marquis, Norkfolk, Leopold, Napier, Oxford, Cambridge, Refer and Diagonals in materials which included serges, tweeds, worsteds, twills, naps and Cheviots.

Like her brothers Sermonda wears leather buttoned boots. Her frilled tiered skirt includes a layer of tartan patterned material and it is worn over scalloped knickerbockers. Her high-necked belted blouse includes a single row of buttons and she wears a ribbon bow at the back of her head. The photographer’s props include a basket and tennis racket and the novel fake swing upon which John Percy sits.

Their mother Mary (née Parks) from Golagh House, County Monaghan was one of the earliest biographers of the composer Richard Wagner. She travelled across Europe amassing a substantial collection of manuscripts which were given to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia (the archive was subsequently sold and dispersed). Their father, Willoughby Merrik Campbell Burrell, 5th Baron Gwydyr, was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. You can see a striking photographic portrait of him, taken by the renowned London studio of Camille Silvy, here.

The children’s maternal grandfather, Sir John Banks, was president of the College of Physicians who also kept a house at 45 Merrion Square. Unfortunately, his medical connections did not prevent the death of young Randulphus who died aged 6 at 11 Merrion Square in 1882, the year in which these photographs were taken.

Sermonda is pictured above in two gorgeous portraits taken in June 1877 by the studio of M. Allen & Co., 12 Westland Row, Dublin. You can see another example of the photographer’s work here. Her scalloped white cotton or linen dress is adorned with an outsize tartan bow and sash. The ensemble is typical of the restrictive children’s clothing which often mimicked the styles worn by their parents. Indeed in the second image, the little girl has abandoned the sash and bow and is sitting in a more relaxed pose with one of her button boots upon her lap.

Sermonda attended the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art from an early age. She enrolled at the age of eleven in 1885 and you can see a link to her attendance record (up to1890) here and an example of her work here. Her brother John Percy was to die at the age of 24 having served in the diplomatic corps in Russia. Sermonda married Sir John Henniker-Heaton, the son of a journalist and postal reformer, who was credited with the introduction of the universal penny post. Their daughter compiled her father’s letters into book format and they provide some insights into Sermonda’s personality. She mentions that her parents were frequent visitors to Ireland. Unfortunately, her early home Golagh House, which was built in 1703 was burned down during the Civil War and the rubble used to build the local Catholic Church. Sermonda was to outlive her brother John Percy by 56 years, dying in 1958 at the age of 84. She was buried at Tunbridge Wells, Kent and her grave is pictured here.

One of her adult children, was to disappear in the early 1970s under strange circumstances. John Victor Peregrine Henniker-Heaton went missing from his home in London in 1971, several sightings were reported and some presumed that his disappearance was related to his post-Second World War intelligence activities. In a bizarre twist, his son discovered his father’s skeletal remains in a locked room in their home in 1974. You can read about the unusual case here.

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The Graduate, Belfast 1880s, cabinet card

I was hoping to post this cabinet card for International Women’s Day but didn’t get the scan ready on time. This proud graduate marked her conferral by commissioning a portrait from Kilpatrick photographers of 8 Donegall Place, Belfast. Street directories show that the business was based there in the 1880s and the tight fitting bodice and high neckline of her outfit are in keeping with the fashions of that period.  

The lace detailing looks like either ribbon or Guipure lace and her slim silhouette was most likely created by corseting. Other nice details include the almond-shaped brooch, possible made of bog oak, which was worn high on her neckline. The hood of her academic gown was lined with either ermine or rabbit fur and you can also see a cane and the academic scroll in the image.

The cabinet card format (16.5 cm x 11.4cm) was larger than the carte-de-visite (10.5 cm  x 6.3 cm) and peaked in popularity in the 1880s. There are some fine examples on the excellent blog The Cabinet Card Gallery.

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Children and stuffed dog! Walshe family of Ballytore, Kildare ca.1885

This cabinet card shows a charming group photograph of the five Walshe children from Battlemount, Narragmore, Ballytore, County Kildare. The Lafayette studio’s rustic setting includes wooden steps and tufts of artificial grass and is completed by props such as a fishing net, basket, book and what has to be a stuffed dog!

The children are beautifully dressed as befits the family of a comfortable farmer from this prosperous county. The two girls to the front of the photograph wear velvet ruched dresses with beautiful smocking and buttons. The also wear fashionable lace-up boots. Both of the boys are dressed in matching suits with wide stripes and white collars. The elder girl wears a nautical dress and short hair which is perhaps an indication of a recent illness.

The village of Ballytore or Ballitore was the only planned Quaker village in Ireland and home to the ancestors of the explorer Ernest Shackleton. The census returns for 1901 and 1911 state that there were five children in the Walshe family and that their mother, Bridget, who was married in 1873 was widowed by 1901. It is likely that this photograph was taken in the mid-1880s when the youngest child, Michael (b.1881) was about five year’s old. 

 

 

 

The above photograph of the family home, Battlemount House was taken many years later and shows the now grown children with their mother. As in the earlier photograph, two of the daughters appear to be wearing identical outfits. Perhaps they were twins? I discovered that one of the daughters, Bridget, was to emigrate to South Africa, and this image might mark one of the last times that the family were to be together.

A newspaper report from August1922 shows that Michael was seeking compensation of £235, from the government, for the loss of his Ford car during the Civil War – an indicator that the family continued to be quite well-off!

 

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