Crayon Portraits

April 17, 2011 Dennis 1 comment

The picture below is Elihu Ayers (1819 – 1896).   It is the oldest picture of the any ancestor that I have, and it is a copy of the original “crayon portrait”.  I estimate the image was created in the 1880s when he was between 60 and 70 years old.

 

In days before color photography, many techniques were tried to enliven pictures.  To create a crayon portrait, a photographer printed a light image and then artistically enhanced it using charcoal, paint and crayon. Sometimes the photographer would update the original image or remove flaws. Crayon portraits were popular from the 1860s to 1900.  In this particular case, I don’t think the artist was very talented, as I have seen better examples elsewhere.

 

Crayon Portrait of ggGF Elihu Ayers 1819-1896

 

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