Old photos of hand-painted portraits in the late Qing Dynasty

The origin of hand-painted old photos of portraits in the late Qing Dynasty is closely related to people’s living customs and psychological state. Before photography was introduced into China, Chinese people used to paint the deceased’s portrait in black and white and put it at home. So when monochrome photography was introduced into China, many Chinese people would have an unlucky mentality; The camera captures people’s souls’ It also reflects people’s psychological state of rejection and resistance. In this state of mind, it gave birth to the manual coloring technique of photos

照片着色在中国的发展初期，许多从业者都是从画像师转行，他们利用自己的绘画才能给黑白照片手工着色，照片着色水平的高低和着色师傅的技术和审美以及当时的社会文化背景有着很大的关系，中国不同地区的照相馆，着色水平也有着明显差异。

 “近之如京沪杭京津，远之如川贵甘陕粤桂等地，每年由影迷服务社总销售彩色照数近七千五百万帧，虽然归功于影迷服务社聘请专家着色，色彩无不鲜艳夺目，但究竟还是大众嗜好有色照相的缘故。”

晚清民国时期的手工着色照片主要以还原当时的社会场景以及人物肖像为主要目的，我们可以通过这些照片可以更好的了解当时的民俗与人们的生活环境；通过这些照片，我们感受到了老百姓的真实气质，他们的生活环境。这些珍贵的手工着色照片，不仅体现出当时从业者的审美水平，也为我们完美的呈现出晚清老百姓的生活写照。