Judging by his clothing, this haunting hand-colored image of a boy was taken in the 1930-40s. The fine condition of the photograph and the claret velvet-lined travel case show that he was important to someone. Wallace Nutting, a New Jersey minister, is credited with popularizing hand-coloring during the first half of the 20th century and his New England landscapes were the bestselling photographs of the period. But many photographers of wide-ranging interests including portraiture experimented with the technique. Inexpensive color processing was available at the time our photograph was made, so the appeal of the more expensive and laborious hand-coloring technique was most certainly artistic and emotional. That is certainly true of our example in which the spontaneity of the pose and fleeting nature of the sitter’s glance are deepened and made more poignant by the artist’s brush. Condition: Minor scuffing to case. Dimensions: Case, 4.5" x 5.5" x .75". Image, 3.75" x 4".