Title: Portrait

Year:  Circa 1920

Collection: Private Montreal Collection

Publications:

Comments:

Caroline Armington is actually pictured working directly on an etching plate using a specialized etching desk and a translucent diffuser screen.

The Diffuser Screen: The large, angled frame holding a translucent white sheet is a light diffuser. Printmakers positioned these desks directly in front of a window. The screen softened the harsh, direct sunlight, preventing glare on the highly polished copper or zinc etching plates. This allowed her to clearly see the fine lines she was scratching without straining her eyes.

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"PHOTOGRAPHIE MATTHES 203, Rue St-Honoré PARIS"

The studio operated from this specific location from roughly the early 1900s until January 1924, when the family sold the workshop.

Louis Albert Matthès (1868–1935): Born in Paris to a German immigrant father, Louis worked as an employed photographer for roughly 15 years before establishing his independent business. He opened the studio at 203, Rue Saint-Honoré and also managed a secondary branch outside the city center in Joinville-le-Pont.

André Matthès: Louis's son trained under his father at both locations. By 1913, André was actively working as a studio photographer at the Paris location and likely managed daily operations until the property was sold. Afterward, he transitioned to specializing as a high-end photo retoucher.

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The ''Journey'' of this Photograph.

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It is highly likely that Frank Armington personally gifted this image to his cousin, Evelyn Thomas (1900–1999)—a woman who spent her life amassing a collection of prints and paintings created by Frank Armington and his wife, Caroline.

The collection passed down to Evelyn’s daughter, Ann Lownsbury (1935–2015). Ann shared a special connection to the family history. Frank himself had personally dedicated numerous Caroline Armington prints to her when she was young.

Later in life, Ann worked as a first-grade teacher, where she taught a young student from Advance, North Carolina (referred to here as Mrs. D.B.). Because Ann had no children of her own, an enduring, lifelong bond formed between them. Over the decades, Ann became a maternal figure to Mrs. D.B. and eventually a ''grandmother'' to Mrs. D.B.’s own children.

When Ann passed away, Mrs. D.B. stepped in to care for Ann's disabled husband, staying by his side until his final days.

 

Upon his death, the remaining pieces of the Armington collection—including this rare historical photograph of Caroline Armington—were left to Mrs. D.B.

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In 2025, the photograph entered the next chapter of its long journey when Mrs. D.B. passed it into the care of a private collector in Montréal, Canada.

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