Great Public Domain Images

The Caution

2011-06-30T10:18:00.000-07:00

Most of the works of great art from the 19th century and earlier are in the public domain, and can be used, with or without modification, in your graphic work today. This interesting Mother-Daughter portrait is by English artist John Crawley, born 1847. Notice the letter the daughter doesn't want her mother to read. And who is that man skulking at the edge of the hill? Tremendous storyline potential in this image.

Pigface

2011-03-30T07:17:00.000-07:00

This is a plant of the genus Carpobrotus, commonly called Pigface. This image dates from 1845. Carpobrotus plants are a popular ground-cover under such names as Icicle Plant, Strand Ivy, Cape Fig, Hottentots Fig, or Sour Fig. But these plants also have medicinal qualities, the sap being used like like Aloe Vera for burns and skin problems.

Hoopoe Who?

2011-03-29T14:24:00.000-07:00

Here is a great bird image -- this guy carries his own war-bonnet. This picture was first published in a book in 1862, so obviously it is now in the public domain -- just like millions of other useful and interesting images!

Mathew and Edith Luce

2010-10-14T19:21:00.001-07:00

A photo by Notman in Boston from ca 1880, this image shows a young boy posed with his little sister. He is looking at the camera, but she is looking at something in her hands, a letter or photograph perhaps. The studio props are carefully chosen to give the illusion of a typical Victorian home, with knick-nacks and ornate furniture. The names are inscribed on the back. I believe this is the Mathew and Edith L Luce listed in the 1880 census in Boston, children of Mathew L and Elizabeth Luce. Mathew was 11 and Edith 5 at the time of the census, so this image was probably within a year or two of that. This is just one of the thousands of old photographs lined up for eventual inclusion in our ClassyArts Photohistory site.

A Spare Penny Mistuh?

2010-09-06T17:55:00.000-07:00

This is a fine example of the kind of lithographic work being done in the last quarter of the 19th century. It portrays a young beggar girl with her hand out, while her little brother cries into her apron. Both are in patched and ragged clothing, and both are barefoot. The original of this image was just about four inches high, and had printed on back an advertisement for a cure-all for childhood ills. Presumably it even cured poverty.

1893 Fashion Plate

2010-09-01T08:48:00.000-07:00

This is a fashion print from 1893, from the ClassyArts print collection. Fashionable ladies in 1893 featured large sleeve-puffs on the shoulders all their dresses, and even on coats which of course needed corresponding puffs to keep from damaging the underlying dress. Those puffs were to become even more exaggerated as the decade wore on.

Wagon Train in Ute Pass

2010-08-25T08:10:00.000-07:00

This is one half of a stereo pair -- to really appreciate the image you need both sides and a stereo viewer -- that chasm down to the river is really impressive. Here we have a view of an authentic 19th century wagon train. It is probably a commercial transport company, the wagons and horse and too uniform for an emigrant train. Also, emigrants usually used oxen, and would often have a cow or mule tied to the back of at least some wagons.

Ute Pass is just west of Colorado Springs, and today you would find US Highway 24 following this route. The highest point on the pass is 9165 feet, but since Colorado Springs is at 6,000 to 7,000 feet, that isn't really very high above the plain.

Sgt George W Driggs

2010-08-23T15:28:00.000-07:00

Sometimes old photos tell a story, and sometimes we need captions. This beautiful ambrotype portrait shows a proud Union soldier from the Civil War. But it is the associated caption that provides the details that bring the image to life.

The problem is, we rarely know for sure if the caption is both authentic and correct. The person adding the note may be mistaken. Or it could be a case of outright fraud, where a dealer tries to increase the value of an item by adding spurious information. Identified photos of soldiers always sell for more than unidentified images -- so there is strong motive for the unscrupulous.

In the case of this image, I have no idea if the caption is correct, but if someone were interested there are several clues that might be checked. Was there such a person? That is easily checked in the War rosters for Wisconsin. Did he have a sister who married William J Fisk? Verifying those facts would lend credence to the caption, but are not sufficient to be 100% sure.

For absolute certainty, we need to see another photo of this same man, hopefully taken within a few years of this one, but if not then any image would help. A published 19th century image would be best -- a modern print may have relied on this very caption for the details -- tainted evidence.

Most of the time, captions are authentic and the information is as reliable as any other source. This is probably exactly whom it claims to be -- but with old photographs we can never really be sure -- unless we do our homework.

Snowy Portrait from McDonald PA

2010-08-21T13:03:00.000-07:00

Here is a portrait from the 1890s of woman dressed in a fur coat with a big hat. She looks decidedly unhappy. This is a studio portrait with a painted back-drop depicting an area of thin woods and large house, plus a prop-fence and gate, to add depth to the scene. The photographer has added fake snow, everywhere in the image except the woman's face, by dusting the negative with particles of some light-proof substance.

The photographer was Hallam of McDonald Pennsylvania. In the 1900 census McDonald had just over 2,000 people, so Hallam was probably the only photographer in town. The area was busy with oil drilling and coal mining, and quite the prosperous place for that time. Perhaps he was expecting the town to grow, but it never happened. Today McDonald still has a little over 2,000 residents. This image is not identified, but with such a small town, perhaps someone will recognize this lady from seeing other photos of her from about the same time. Sure hope she cheered up in later photos.

1790 Egyptian Landscape

2010-08-20T06:03:00.000-07:00

This wonderful image from the 18th century shows an idealized Egyptian landscape, with a blue River Nile, a boat and monumental architecture. A tiny figure operates a water wheel for irrigation, while two others look on and discuss politics or philosophy. Egypt and everything Egyptian was all the rage from the next century after this lithograph and others like it sparked the imaginations of European and American readers.

Reality was not always so idyllic -- Egypt suffered through six famines from 1687 to 1731. The famine of 1784 cost the country roughly one-sixth of its population, setting the stage for the French invasion of Egypt in 1798.

Egypt is the size of Texas and California combined, or about twice the size of Spain. But the vast majority of the population lives along the Nile valley, because most of the rest of the country is desert.