House Chaplain John George Butler’s carte-de-visite photograph follows a common convention of the format in its upscale setting, meant to project an image of prosperity and success. Calling card–sized cartes-de-visite—of both celebrities and friends—were avidly collected by the public from the time of the format’s invention in the mid-1850s until around 1870, when the larger format “cabinet card” came into vogue.
