'Winter'

A hand-coloured carte-de-visite portrait of an elderly women with the allegorical title 'Winter' pencilled in the lower margin.

Photographed by Oscar Gustavus Rejlander in the late 1850s and later issued as a carte-de-visite during the period when his studio was in Haverstock Hill, North London. .

Often called the father of art photography, Rejlander was a Swede who emigrated to England in 1839. He lived first in Lincoln before moving to Wolverhampton in 1845; he finally settled in London in April or May 1862. Along with HP Robinson, he became one of the leading exponents of ‘high-art’ photography. His Two Ways of Life was a mammoth composite work which caused a sensation when it was exhibited in 1857. In addition to his art photography, Rejlander also advertised his availability as a commercial portraitist but nevertheless died penniless in 1875. His grave in London's Kensal Green Cemetery was until recently unmarked.