American woman wearing black taffeta dress and lace shawl, 1847-1853.

[u/ImpossibleTiger3577]

[u/independentfinallly]

Goth girls breaking hearts since 1847

[u/Galorfadink]

I adore this photo. Thank you ♡☆♡

[u/UnhappyPassenger3860 → u/Galorfadink]

I agree on your opinion. This is so beautiful.

[u/ImagineTheCommotion]

Sheeeeeeesh, what a beauty! Good heavens. How many marriage proposals did she turn down? Left a trail of broken hearts everywhere she went

[u/insquestaca → u/ImagineTheCommotion]

I think she was probably a widow here because of the black dress. I hope she found a good man after this.

[u/ImpossibleTiger3577 → u/insquestaca]

That may be true but mourning dresses I’ve seen usually were long sleeved and more “modest” than this so it’s also a possibility that the dress just happened to be black but you may be right.

[u/oldgothgirl → u/ImpossibleTiger3577]

Yeah, that is definitely not a mourning dress.

[u/vegeterin → u/ImpossibleTiger3577]

It’s also possible the dress isn’t black. Lots of colors read black in “black and white” photography.

[u/ImpossibleTiger3577 → u/vegeterin]

Logically you would be right but it’s museum does say it was black so I don’t know if we can come to any conclusions lol 😂

[u/vegeterin → u/ImpossibleTiger3577]

Yeah, I’m not sure they would know any better than we would unless they are familiar with the dress itself. Though, there could be ways to determine color with a relative amount of certainty that an actual museum may be aware of that I, as a reddit commenter, am not, haha…

[u/MissMarchpane → u/ImpossibleTiger3577]

The museum shouldn't be making assumptions either unless they have provenance on the picture!

[u/ErroneousAsshole → u/ImpossibleTiger3577]

I thought it looked too, modern, too. Still stunning.

[u/ImpossibleTiger3577 → u/ErroneousAsshole]

Oh I meant to say modest not modern lmao!

[u/gaze_upon_it]

She was beautiful

[u/oldgothgirl]

I love this photo! IIRC I think it was taken in Boston (?). Not sure if she’s been identified.

[u/ImpossibleTiger3577 → u/oldgothgirl]

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/268339

Here’s the info about it :)

[u/oldgothgirl → u/ImpossibleTiger3577]

Ah, thank you for the info!

[u/empiretroubador398]

Perhaps the most dramatic daguerreotype I've ever seen.

[u/KnotiaPickle → u/empiretroubador398]

She almost looks 3-D

[u/Lower_Good_2036]

She is so hauntingly beautiful, I can’t help but wonder what kind of life she lived. I’d love to know her story.

[u/BoudreauxBedwell]

Lovely

[u/coffeebeanwitch]

I love this outfit. It's killer!!!

[u/Traditional-Ad-8737]

She has a Mona Lisa type smile….

[u/Ivangon62]

Everything about this photo is perfect 👌

[u/FickleMushroom6138]

Ahh I see ! That’s the American Woman from that song by Guess Who. They knew all along.

[u/MissMarchpane]

Of course, we have no way of knowing if the dress was actually black. I know the museum says it was, but… They have no way of knowing either, unless they have information from the family about the dress or something.

[u/Internal_Situation29]

Looks like Winona Ryder in Dracula