Woman in Richmond, Virginia
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This is another little Carte de Visite of an unidentified young woman. I just wanted to share it because it’s an especially lovely image. Though I know nothing about her, there’s at least a little information about the photographer. Here is the back:
A photographer named George W. Davis operated at 827 Broad Street in Richmond for the latter decades of the 19th Century, when I believe this photo would have been taken. (He also had a studio in Washington, D.C.) I’ve found other examples of his work online, some of which are labeled “Richmond Photograph Co.”, as this one is, and others of which are labeled “Geo W. Davis” or “G. W. Davis”. Though I haven’t worked too hard at it, I haven’t found an obvious reason for the difference, such as a specific date after which the business’s name changed. Interestingly, it seems he was known for giving employment to, and thereby launching the careers of, a couple of the city’s African-American photographers, as is noted in this article.
Pics of Then 
She’s lovely. I’d guess her age to be about thirteen or fourteen. I always wonder if a photographer chooses a pose like this for a particular reason. In this case it may be to highlight her youth and shyness.
The article about George O. Brown and his studio is really interesting.
Oh, interesting, I thought she was older, late teens at least, but I can be pretty bad at guessing ages. But yes, I agree the pose seems to be very feminine and demure. I don’t think I see this pose a lot, which makes me wonder what other poses were tried in this sitting, assuming any.
I’m also very bad at guessing ages, so if we take an average of your guess and mine, she’d be about sixteen. 😄
Absent further evidence, that’ll do! 🙂