Figure 1.--This is a painted over photographic portrait, probably dating from the 1860s. The seller thought it was a water color, but it looks more like oil to us. The boy is unidentified. He looks to be about 5-years old. Bote the pants do not match the jacket. By the 1860s that was not very common. Note the cap with the blue tassle on the table. The studio was W. L. Germon, 703 Chestnut St., Philadelphia. The photographic albumen portrait was hand-colored in his studio. The original frame is ebonized wood with a gold liner. The inside oval measures 6-1/2” X 5” and the outside frame dimensions are approximately 10” X 8-1/2”. This was one of many services offered at a big city studio. The portrait was displayed in a ebony wood frame.

We do not have much information on the colors cut-away jackers were done in, but we have begun to acquire some basic information. The black-and-white photography of the day makes color difficult to assess. We note boys wearing cut-away jackets suits with jackets and triysers in cintrasting colors during the 1850s. We note William Halsted wearing a blak cut-away jacket and brown trousrs in 1859. He has a blue ribbon bow. By the 1860s, matching jackets and trousers were standard. As afar as we can tell the cut-away jackets worn in the 1860s and 70s were done in muted colors. Most of the suits we note in the photographic record inthe 1860s and 70s when the jackets were most popular seem to be light-colored material. We think the light colored suits were usually done in colors like grey and tan. There were also some dark suits, but the light-colored suits seem the most common. The Fauntleroy cut-away jackets of the 1880s and 90s were in contrast mostly dark colors. The cut-away jackers were also used Zouave suits were done in bright colors, often red and blue. The blur was commonly bused for the jackets and the red for the pantaloons.

Created: 11:57 PM 3/3/2008
Last updated: 12:36 PM 9/29/2012