26.98.3

Photograph, crayon portrait

1900 Approximate

Marie Guse Schnepf. 20" x 16" charcoal crayon portrait - subject: woman wearing a black dress with set-in sleeves, bow at front seam between yoke and bodice, a high black collar with a white collar insert; brooch at neck; hair is pulled back, light in color with curls on top at forehead; identified as Mary Elizabeth "Marie" Guse Schnepf; Janesville. Mary Elizabeth Guse (b. 15 Feb 1874, d. 3 Nov 1949) married Reinhart Franz "Franik" Schnepf on 4 May 1898. Their children were Fred and Louise (donor's grandmother). She is donor's great-grandmother. See set of 3 drawings (#26.98.1-3) & Janesville

Crayon portraits are actually very light photographic portraits that have been rendered over with charcoal or pastels (chalk) to appear to be an artist's portrait. Some were very lightly rendered and some were less skillfully rendered and appear somewhat distorted. These were popular from the 1860s through the turn of the century. They are usually the large 16" x 20" or larger format framed in rectangular or oval frames often commemorating a wedding or an anniversary.