Portrait Against the Light by F. Holland Day

/ Kimberly

This unusual photograph was taken in 1899 by F. Holland Day. He called it Portrait Against the Light . I wasn’t able to find the name of the woman in the picture.
It’s an intriguing image. The woman doesn’t seem to be aware her picture is being taken. Looking at it gives me a creepy feeling, like I’m spying on her. Look at how loose fitting her dress is—maybe it’s a nightgown? Maybe she had just woken up.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Those are my impressions. What do you think of this picture?

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7 thoughts on “Portrait Against the Light by F. Holland Day”

  1. In my early teens and up through early adulthood, photography was an interest and hobby of mine. I even developed and printed my photos, mostly in black and white.

    After college and marriage I supplemented our income by working on weekends for a photography studio taking wedding photos. One of the signature photos of the study, as well as my favorite bride-alone photo, was the “available light picture” of the bride’s profile. Typically the bride was posed at a window looking out with the only light in the room being the daylight coming through the uncovered window. No matter the facial features, the photo was always flattering to the bride. To this day I recall one in particular that was stunning.

    An available light photo requires the f-stop of the lens and the shutter speed of the camera to be adjusted for the lighting conditions. In my case, decades ago, I used a light meter to determine those settings. Today, cameras have the ability to automatically adjust those setting. But in 1899, still the infancy of photography, most cameras required a tripod to take such a photo to steady the camera and not produce a blurry result. According to history, in 1898 – Kodak introduced the Folding Pocket Kodak and in 1900 – Kodak introduced its first Brownie, a very inexpensive user-reloadable point-and-shoot box camera.

    I am intrigued by this photo because I would like to know the type of camera used to take it. I believe it is a posed photograph, not candid, because the photographer wanted the woman looking at and her face aligned with the mini photograph on the wall in the right foreground of the photo. Is it the same person looking at a photo of herself?

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    • I don’t know that there was info about the kind of camera used but I believe they said it was a gelatin silver print. Does that offer any clue? I assumed it was candid because of the angle and the woman looking a little blurry but the photographer may have been trying to create an effect.

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      • I see the object you are pointing out but have no clue what it could can be. I’m not ever sure the framed object is a mirror or a painting. Just above the object you think is a woman arm is a man’s blurry figure.

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  2. Is that a reflection in a mirror directly below the woman’s elbow? It looks like a man’s arm and back. There also seems to be a man’s photograph reflected above the man’s back. Did she hear an intruder or was it her husband arriving home? Or is SHE the other woman? Is that photograph on the wall of the wife and she’s just arrived home? These old photos are a lot of fun!

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