I recently found this beautiful 8×10 photo of my grandmother in pristine condition, in a picture frame, in a stack of picture frames, in the closet of a guest room in my parent’s home. With my mother’s permission, I rescued the dusty frame from the pile.
This adorable little girl was the only child at the time this photo was taken. She was 22 months old. The photo was taken at The Twitter Studio in Great Falls, Montana. The photo was later hand-painted with oil paints. Because there is evidence that the photograph was removed and returned to the frame – the paper backing is torn and taped back together with very old cellophane tape with the studio sticker still on the paper backing – I believe that it was hand-painted by my great grandmother Hope Estelle Maffit.
I love her little dress, socks, and shoes. I also love that her hair isn’t overly styled. It looks like her mother just worked with her natural curls. I wonder if the stuffed dog belonged to my grandmother or if it was a toy in the studio used to help children hold still?
I’m so delighted that my mother was willing to let me rescue and scan this photo while it was still in such perfect condition. A treasure for sure!
Wow, what a stunning photo. And if your great-grandmother painted it, she was very talented. This is a very realistic job of colorizing a black and white photograph. Just beautiful!
Thank you Amy. She really was talented. She was also prolific. I have hundreds of photos that she handpainted, many of them are 8×10 or 11×17 (I think… about that size, may be slightly different dimensions). That of course doesn’t include all that she did for customers. I imagine she completed thousands.
Beautiful photo; what a treasure to have 🙂
Thank you Su, I love it!
Wow, such a treasure! 🙂
Thank you Linda!
What a sweetie! Your grandmother was adorable. The photo is wonderful.
Thank you Sheryl, I think so too! 🙂
Just lovely – a photo to be treasured!
Thank you Teresa! I do love it. 🙂
This picture is beautiful, such a treasure…
Thank you!