I wasn’t entirely sure if this was a photograph or a painting when I first saw it but I’m pretty sure now that it is a photograph, taken sometime in the Victorian era. The woman looks totally out of it — I don’t think she’s dead (eyes widen open) but it’s as if she’s on some sort of … medication (not uncommon in Victorian days).
Colour photography was in its infancy in Victorian times but it did exist then — perhaps the woman was just bored senseless waiting for the exposure time to be over.
I’ve misplaced the source of this image — will put it here when I locate it.
