Camille Silvy1860Lord Arthur Lennox
Carte de visite
Paul FreckerThe social standing of the visitors to Silvy's studio shifted significantly during the time that Silvy was in London. Juliet Hacking's analysis of the rank of the sitters appearing in volume one, which covers the first nine months of 1860, shows 3 dukes, 8 duchesses, 3 marquesses, 8 marchionesses, 3 counts, 23 countesses, 10 viscounts, 8 viscountesses, 32 lords and 110 ladies, out of some 1300 sitters. Volume eight, which covers the summer of 1862, contains only 2 viscounts, 1 viscountess, 2 lords, and 14 ladies, out of 998 entries. In aristocratic and fashionable circles, the carte had definitely had its day. The later volumes show a very different class of sitter than the early volumes do, comprising portraits of the wives of retired army officers, the sons of provincial clergy, the daughters of merchants, various civil servants and members of the bar, and at least one colliery owner.
LL/12808