Carte de Visites

 

Carte de visites are inexpensive paper visiting card photos used not only for personal, social and business visits, but also for the keepsake likenesses of famous celebrities, speakers, and accomplished figures.

Carte de Visites, or CDVs, are thin paper prints, usually albumen prints (albumen is the clear liquid found in egg whites that binded the chemicals to the paper), that were mounted on thicker paper cards. French daguerreotypist André Adolphe Eugène Disdéri patented the carte de visite in 1854 and started to become popular around 1860. The mounting card measures from 2 1/2 inches to 4 inches and the CDV print measures 2 1/8 inches by 3 1/2 inches, but carelessly cut and trimmed cards can vary in size and have uneven alignment. Later carte de visites mounting cards became thicker around 1870 and again in 1880. Special multiplying cameras were used to take multiple CDV images in much the same way gem tintypes were taken. The majority were self portraits and portraits of celebrities, officials, clergymen, politicians and authors, but landscapes, family photographs, and favorite sites were taken as well. Carte de visite means “visiting card”, but they were not used like the Chinese visiting cards of the 15th century, which prospective visitors gave to their hosts as etiquette. The name and business location of the photographer is the imprint, or backmark, of the CDV and often autographed signatures are on the bottom of the front of the card.

 

Like tintypes, carte de visites became enormously popular as friends, love interests, relatives, or businessmen traded them amongst each other. They were light, cheap, and easy to mail to friends or relatives. What helped set off the CDV trend, aside from the untrue rumors that Napolean stopped with his troops en route to Italy to have a carte de visite taken, was that Queen Victoria took an interest in them and one firm paid a very hefty sum for exclusive photo rights of the Royal Family. CDV “cardomania” spread as prominent authors, politicians, and celebrities had their images mass produced. CDVs and CDV albums became common display pieces in homes and parlors. In England alone at least hundreds of millions of carte de visites were produced.

 

There are different ways to determine the dates of carte de visites. The earliest cards were the thinnest, typically .5 mm or less. From 1869 to 1887 they were typically between .5mm and .75mm. 1880 and after are between .75 mm to 1 mm. Pre 1870 CDVs had square corners, while later cards had rounded edges (not to be confused with worn edges). Also backgrounds in portraits tended to be much simpler in carte de visites before the late 1860’s, consisting of a chair or a table, while after 1870 fancy backdrops and elaborate props were used heavily.

 

By 1864, most families owned a CDV album. Cartes de visites’ popularity declined as the larger and more commercial cabinet cards came about in the 1870’s. Cabinet cards had elaborate logos and more descriptive business information of the photographers on the back. CDVs were still being published in limited numbers until as late as 1920. Some collectors and museums have vast collections of carte de visites and some very famous examples are at the Library of Congress.