From roughly 1860 to 1920[1][2]painted photography backdrops were a standard feature of early photography studios. Generally of rustic or quasi-classical design, but sometimes presenting abourgeoisietrompe-l'œil,[3] they eventually fell out of fashion with the advent of theBrownie andKodak cameras which brought photography to the masses with concurrent changes to public sensibility. Inasmuch as they were produced for six decades by local artisans, they can provide important clues to theprovenance of old family photographs forgenealogical research,[4][5][6] and their staged influence lives on in "old-timey" photography sets.[7][8] Furthermore, they are of some interest to specialized collectors of thehistory of photography.[9]
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