{"product_id":"antique-victorian-photograph-of-woman-with-floor-length-hair","title":"Antique Victorian Photograph of Woman with Floor-Length Hair","description":"\u003cp\u003eHere we have a large studio photograph from the 1890s that stops you mid-scroll: a young woman stands with her back to the camera, hair pooling past the floor, brushing it out in front of a tall mirror while her reflection looks straight back at the lens.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe composition wasn't an accident. She's placed so you see her twice, the impossible length of hair from behind and her calm, direct face caught in the glass. The backdrop is a painted Renaissance Revival cabinet set crowded with urns, carved busts, and a mantel clock, with a real side table, oil lamp, and fur rug staged in as props. Her dress shows the big puffed leg-of-mutton sleeves that were everywhere by the mid-1890s. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLoose, unbound hair like this wasn't something a respectable Victorian woman let be seen in public. That's exactly why photographs like this one exist. Hair length was treated as the ultimate marker of femininity in this period (the Seven Sutherland Sisters built a hair tonic empire on the idea), and studios did steady business photographing women with their hair let all the way down, sold as novelty prints and occasionally tied into the hair goods trade. This piece sits in that small, strange corner of photographic history, less a portrait than a document of what Victorian audiences found worth looking at.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI was told this is a photo of Viola Mace from Menomenie Falls, Wisconsin. It was supposed taken in 1898. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe framed antique photograph measures 13” x 11 1\/2”. The photograph shows expected toning and a few light surface scuffs, visible mostly in raking light, nothing that fights the imageThe frame carries its own age, a worn cream painted finish with a reeded edge, some corner losses, and a backing board that's been patched and renailed at some point, so treat the frame as honestly aged rather than pristine. Please see all pics as they are part of the description. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI ship FedEx to street addresses in the continental USA only (no PO Boxes). Free shipping on the old and wild photograph. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLet it flow!\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Mad Van Antiques","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43471943696461,"sku":null,"price":140.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0116\/3637\/5610\/files\/IMG_0356.jpg?v=1786928551","url":"https:\/\/madvanantiques.com\/products\/antique-victorian-photograph-of-woman-with-floor-length-hair","provider":"Mad Van Antiques","version":"1.0","type":"link"}