This is an exceptionally attractive late-19th-century cabinet card portrait of a fashionable young woman shown in profile wearing an enormous broad-brimmed hat lavishly decorated with bows and ribbon. Her high dark collar, upswept hair and elaborate hat give the portrait considerable appeal as a study of Gilded Age women’s fashion, while Sprotte’s soft lighting and delicately vignetted composition produce an unusually elegant result. The photograph can be dated to approximately 1889–1893, very early in Sprotte’s Newark career. The mount is prominently marked “Sprotte, Late with Mora, N.Y.. Charles H. Sprotte is documented as a professional photographer in Newark from approximately 1889 through 1899, with an additional 1889 listing in what was then Clinton, New Jersey. The phrase “Late with Mora” was period trade language meaning that Sprotte had formerly been associated with or employed by the celebrated New York photographer José María Mora. That was a credential worth advertising. Mora had trained in the studio of Napoleon Sarony before opening his own New York establishment and became one of the leading portrait photographers of Gilded Age society and the theatrical world. This cabinet card is in good antique condition for its age, with minor fading to the photograph, light surface soiling, and expected wear to the edges and corners of the mount. The studio imprint remains strong and fully legible. The reverse is blank and shows a horizontal band of discoloration toward the lower portion consistent with glue residue from earlier attachment. See Scans.
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