Maurice Rambert (Swiss, 1866-1941)

Window-ledge Portrait

Autochrome, circa 1907. 7 x 5 inches

Autochrome plates were expensive and difficult to obtain during their first year or two of production. Because of this, and because of the need to avoid movement that could blur the picture, Autochrome portraits often have a static, frozen quality– as if each exposure was too important to risk failure.

Even though this composition is very carefully balanced, there is nothing staid about it. The young woman seems to be enjoying the experience immensely, a testament to Maurice Rambert’s ability to put his sitters at ease. And there is a timeless quality to this image, for although both flowers and youthful beauty fade all too quickly, this lovely moment still manages to delight us, a century after it happened.

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