Mrs. Jane Hamilton with Daughters Rose and Eliza

The family portrait of Mrs. Jane Hamilton and her daughters Rose and Eliza, with its painted backdrop of clouds and delicate hand-colouring, is typical of the daguerreotype portraits made by William Edward Kilburn during the late 1840s and early 1850s. Mrs. Hamilton and her daughters would have visited Kilburn's photographic studio at 234 Regent Street in London, travelling there from their home in Kirkcudbright, Scotland. Kilburn's expertise in grouping the three women is evidenced by the pyramidal formation of the figures: Jane Hamilton, the mother, seated on the left, her eldest daughter, Rose, standing behind her, and Eliza, the youngest daughter, seated on the right. The blue sky of the background contrasts with the pink of Rose's dress and is echoed by Eliza's blue collar.