[Ambrotype copy of unidentified portrait by Charles Rodius, ca.1857-60] / unknown photographer

ML 1395

fonds

ca.1857-1860

Graphic Materials, Photographs

456962

1 photograph - ambrotype - 29.5 x 23.3 cm. (sight), in frame 51 x 45.5 cm.

Ambrotype copy of a pencil portrait, framed. Mount window has rounded corners.

Out of copyright: Artist died before 1955
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales

An unusually large ambrotype ca.1857-1860 which has previously been attributed to Sydney photographer Thomas Glaister on the basis of size. However this ambrotype is 5 cm. smaller than those by Glaister held in the Library, and does not appear be varnished, a characteristic of all known Glaisters. Nonetheless it must be by one of the better local studios, such as Freeman or Dalton. Photographers such as Blackwood advertised that they copied 'works of art' from 1858. Paper copies of paintings and drawings are known, and smaller ambrotypes (such as MIN 388), but this is the largest local ambrotype example seen by the Curator of Photographs. The Rodius sketch is of an unknown individual, but is in a similar style to the charcoal sketch of Chief Justice Forbes, drawn by Rodius around 1852 (DG P2/57). The ambrotype is virtually the same size as the Forbes image (30 x 25 cm.). It was clearly meant to be hung as a substitute for the original artwork and probably displayed by another family member -- notes by Curator of Photographs, 2007
Signature 'Rodius' on original is visible at lower left
Photograph is in what may be its original frame