This unique exhibit is an object from the second half of the 19th century — a photograph on glass. At that time, the ambrotype method was widespread among photographers. In Greek the term means “eternal picture”. According to this method, the picture is applied not to paper, but to glass and remains on it forever, without changing its original appearance.
To obtain such photographic material, it is necessary to apply a solution of potassium iodide in collodion to a glass plate and treat it with a solution of silver nitrate. But one needs to work very quickly because the picture can appear only in a wet state, that is, immediately after application. The image is developed with an iron developer and fixed with potassium cyanide. This method of making photographs was available only to wealthy people who wanted to keep their portraits for centuries. In 1895, the rich nobleman A.S. Sofiano commissioned a photographic portrait of his family on glass. This amazing photograph captures the relatives of Alexander Goldenweiser’s first wife, Anna Alekseyevna, her stepmother Zinaida Sofiano with her children and her nanny Yulia Fedorovna.
Zinaida Yevgrafovna Sofiano, nee Mukhanova, came from an old rich family of Belgorod nobles. In 1890, she married Lieutenant General of the Imperial Army Alexey Semyonovich Sofiano and gave birth to three children: daughters Katya and Tanya and son Konstantin. Her eldest daughter Yekaterina, shown in this photograph sitting on the lap of her nanny Yulia Fyodorovna, married a physics teacher, Dmitry Ivanovich Sakharov. They had a son Andrey — a future famous physicist, one of the creators of the first hydrogen bomb, a public figure, and a human rights activist. Not to withdraw himself from others after the death of his first wife Anna Alekseyevna Sofiano, Alexander Goldenweiser often communicated with her family, especially with her sisters. He became very close to them and tried to keep in touch. The relationship between Goldenweiser and the Sofiano family was so close that Goldenweiser became Andrey Sakharov’s godfather.
The memory of Anna Alekseyevna and things associated with her were carefully kept by Alexander Goldenweiser, therefore the “eternal” photo on glass, depicting her relatives, is in the collection of his memorial apartment.
