part of the jonathan ross collection

Stereoviews

Tissue Stereoviews

Silverware

Often referred to as ‘French Tissues’, as the majority were produced in France, this style of stereoview first appeared c.1858 and offered an alternative to the surface tinting of prints as a method for introducing colour, along with some optional special effects.

When viewed in reflected light the image has the usual sepia appearance but, when held to the light, the colours are revealed.

Further examples can be found in the Henri Lefort section.

A comfortable size for freeviewing (parallel viewing) the images in the linked pdf documents is 125% or 150%. This can be adjusted at the top right of the document.

Stereoviews replicate the way we see the world by taking two views of a scene, one from the right eye position and another from the left. When these are mounted together and viewed in a stereoscope, the brain merges them into a 3-dimensional or ‘stereoscopic’ image.

The technique emerged in the 1850s, soon after the invention of photography, through the work of Charles Wheatstone and Sir David Brewster, and developed into a worldwide craze with thousands of practitioners.

Stereo photography has gone out of fashion several times over the past couple of centuries, only to be rediscovered by later generations. Most of the images on this site are by European photographers working in the 1850s and 60s.

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