Man with two backdrops
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This little carte de visite image features a man posing with a chair in front of two seemingly competing backdrops, one completely plain, and one painted with a fancy piano. I don’t recall seeing an arrangement like this before. As much as it looks like an error to me, I feel it must have been a choice, though I’m left wondering why. Maybe they wanted to use the piano backdrop to reflect the man’s talents or just generally indicate a cultured personality, but felt the need to incorporate the plain backdrop in order to let him stand out in greater relief visually, particularly with his dark coat? I’m curious what others think of this, or if it’s more common than I realize. I also noticed what seem like unusually thick soles on his shoes, but again, maybe I just haven’t before noticed a trend of thick-soled shoes in that era. For the record, this image has no date or location or other information.
Pics of Then 
I’ve never seen anything like this before! I think your theory is spot-on, that he stands out better against the plain backdrop. But why include a partial piano? Maybe the anonymous photographer was experimenting to see what would look better?
The thick soles are odd as well. I’ve never noticed anything similar before, but maybe I just never paid close attention.
A very unusual portrait!
I wonder if the fact that there is no photographer’s information is a clue that it’s just a test shot, experimenting with different backgrounds before a final decision is made on the composition of the photo. If so, I’m still not sure what they were going for here. And it’s interesting that it would still be around.
He gives me strong minor-Charles-Dickens-character vibes, with his checked pants. And I have never seen such thick-soled shoes in images of this period (now I’ll probably start seeing them everywhere). I like the idea that this was a test shot–he has a skeptical expression that makes me think he wasn’t too worried about how this portrait would come out.
That’s funny, “minor Charles Dickens character”. I was enjoying the pants, too. I’m glad you agree with the suspicion that it’s a test shot. It makes me wonder how many other unlabeled photos were just tests, if that’s indeed what’s going on here.