Young girl with book. Circa 1855.

Ambrotype from a sixth (1/6) plate. Measurements: 7 x 5.1 cm / 2.75 x 2 in. In its original case, with the two "nail" type bronze hooks. The inside of the lid is lined with a red embossed velvet with a large central phytomorphic motif, a frequent aesthetic around the 1850s. The entire Daguerrean set is held by the copper band, the gilt bronze mat or passepartout and finally vintage white glass.

Our years of research in the field of the first photographic processes in Latin America indicate that the portraits of women -even more so if they are individual- were really scarce in this early photographic iconography, where the pre-eminence was of course male. The lady in this ambrotype case, poses strictly following the instructions of the gringo portraitist. Seated, she rests her left arm on an unusual study table; invisible to our sight, the young woman is held firmly by the nape of her neck, thanks to a metallic device known as she supports her head. All these precautions of immobility during the seconds of pose, were due to the danger of ruining the shot of her because of a body movement.

Around that winter noon the young South American woman finally faces the wooden camera. She is located in the aerial box known as "Gallery of Pose" and illuminated by a source of light coming from the right, her feminine figure stands out on a light, smooth and neutral background. For this special session, she wears her best dress in a dark tone and a light blouse with crocheted collar and cuffs. She wears a banded hairstyle and holds in her hands a small book -probably the missal- while she gazes fixedly at that shining glass lens that, second by second, engraves her figure, which from that moment on, will win. to her inevitable death. Immortality has been achieved.

Abel alexander

President of the Ibero-American Society for the History of Photography