January Uprising - photograph by K. Beyer - woman in dress from the period of "national mourning". [not after 1863].

[PORTRAITPHOTOGRAPHY - young woman in costume from the period of "national mourning". - shot in card de visite format]. [not after 1863]. Photograph form. 8.9x5.7 cm on original 10x6.4 cm backing, taken at Karol Beyer's factory in Warsaw.
The portrait of the sitter is taken in 3/4 figure. She is dressed in a black long gown with a white collar, fastened with a brooch; the gown is made of lustreless material, with long sleeves worn as a sign of the national mourning for women announced on March 3, 1861 after the funeral of the first five victims shot in Warsaw by the tsarist army during a patriotic demonstration. On the back an advertising vignette of the establishment printed: "Karol Beyer's Photographic Establishment Krakowskie Przedmieście in Warsaw". Local minor stains, horizontal fold.
K. Beyer (1818-1877) - one of the greatest individuals in the history of Polish photography. He was a collector, amateur scientist and patriotic activist in the period 1861-1863, which he paid with exile to Siberia, where, of course, he also took photographs. He opened his first business in 1844 as a daguerreotype studio, later turning it into a photographic atelier. In 1857 he moved to premises at 389 Krakowskie Przedmieście St., where he operated until around 1863. The main specialty of the establishment was portrait photography, especially appointment photography. He worked for public affairs by taking portraits of people taking part in political and social events, including a set of portraits of the so-called five fallen in the patriotic demonstration of 27 II 1861 in Warsaw's Krakowskie Przedmieście Street. He was a member of the City Delegation - a committee set up to ensure public peace after that demonstration.