As photographic processes developed and became more accessible, studio portraiture grew in popularity amongst the aspirational middle classes. They commissioned photographers to take their family portraits and were posed in set-piece, hierarchical groupings in their finest clothes. These Victorian photographs immortalise not only the people, but the conventions of the era and the bourgeois ideals of virtue and prosperity.
The Victorian photographic studio had a glass roof and walls to allow in the maximum amount of daylight, and to minimise exposure times. There were blinds and curtains which could be adjusted and moved to control the quantity and direction of the light. Studios had a variety of moveable backdrops, furniture, props and toys to create the scene. Head rests were used to prevent movement from the sitter during long exposure times and in some instances, are unintentionally visible in the photograph. The studio contained ornaments and furnishings from a typical Victorian drawing room, to make the sitters feel relaxed in their surroundings.
These photographs are from a collection bought by Edinburgh City Libraries in 1970. They were produced in the late 1860's by David Doull at his photographic studio in Laurison Place.
The image library for the collections of Edinburgh Libraries and Museums and Galleries