Featured Striking Portrait of Lady / Hobday Studio, Norfolk VA

I really like this one. She looks so dignified.

Haven't found too much on this studio.

 

She is very pretty. I didn't find much on photographer either. Just a bit. Library on congress. I didn't want to download the files but it will give you a little bit of information.

About this Item
Title

• [Private John Cocke Ashton of Norfolk "Light Blues" Virginia Light Artillery Battery in uniform] / J. Hobday, photographer, no. 42, High Street, Portsmouth, Va.

Summary

• Photograph shows portrait of identified soldier, who was captured at Petersburg, Virginia, and imprisoned at Point Lookout, Maryland.

Contributor Names

• Hobday, J. (Joseph), approximately 1833-1893, photographer

Created / Published

• [Portsmouth, Va.] : [J. Hobday, photographer, no. 42, High Street], [between 1864 and 1865]

 

Thank you. That means that photo was from 1864 to 1865? I wonder how long he was in business? Would probably take a lot of research if he's not that well known.

 

Looks like an Irish servant girl to me. Suspect she's wearing her Sunday best but... Her clothing and accessories are very humble.

Debora

 

The location on your card is Norfolk, not Portsmouth VA. Maybe one of our excellent researchers can find info on when he was located in Norfolk.

 

I'm finding him a tad earlier in Norfolk -- 1859-1860.

Debora

 

Good! Thanks for looking, Debora.

 

Here he is in Portsmouth in 1854.

Debora

 

The most interesting thing about her is her bluntly cut hair. It may indicate treatment for a brain health issue or institutionalization, perhaps for being a sex worker.

Debora

 

Given the dates Debora found,this could be an early carte de visite. They were first invented in France in 1854, but didn't come across the Atlantic right away. They started to become more widely used in the very late 1850s and early 1860s. So that is the earliest date for this. Perhaps somebody could figure out a date for her clothing? It is faded, but my wild guess is 1860s some time.

 

I'm finding the clothing hard to decipher. If I had to make an educated guess, I'd say -- what with the gathered bodice, high waist and round shoulder -- sometime in the 1850s. (If 1860s, she'd be wearing a hoop but she doesn't appear to be nor does the skirt appear to have much volume.) But then, she's not affluent so perhaps she wasn't able to follow the latest fashions. I wonder if not an older dress made over to be serviceable at a later date. The best indicator of dating is probably her bonnet which she may have hand- decorated to the latest fashion. She wears it defiantly; must have been important to her.

Debora