Acklen Children with Balustrade

Joseph, Pauline, William and Claude Acklen with Balustrade
Left to right
Photographer: C. D. Fredricks & Co. (New York, 1823 – 1894)
Backmark:
587 Broadway, New York
Date: 1865
Provenance: Adelicia to her daughter Pauline Acklen Locket, unknown, purchased by Belmont Mansion Association from a photograph dealer in Pennsylvania
2016.01.55 Belmont Mansion Association purchase

It appears that Joseph is wearing his military school uniform in this photograph. He was attending the Burlington Academy in Burlington, New Jersey, when the family left for the grand tour. Joseph joined the family in route. Most likely this carte-de-visite was made before they left New York City for Europe.

Charles DeForest Fredricks learned photography from New Yorker Jeremiah Gurney before moving to Buenos Aires. In the 1850s, he worked in Charleston (South Carolina), Paris, and New York with Gurney and in Havana by himself. In Paris in 1853, he was the first to make life-sized head shots that would then be colored in pastels. Back in New York in 1855, he remained in business with Gurney unitl 1857. In 1858 he had his own studio at 585 and 587 Broadway. There he became one of the first and finest photographers for using Talbot’s paper process for making cartes de visites. Fire destroyed that studio in 1875.