Square Majolica plaque of interior of shoemaker's shop with two figures inscribed St. Crespino and St. Crespigniano

The composition records a modest workshop, emphasizing the everyday material culture of a nineteenth‑century artisan. The presence of the saintly plaque suggests a blend of commercial and devotional spaces, reflecting how religious iconography was integrated into the visual identity of small businesses.

Laffon employed the wet‑collodion process, producing a sharp, detailed negative that was contact‑printed onto albumen paper. The square format and careful framing highlight the plaque and the shop’s furnishings, while the tonal range captures both the glossy surface of the majolica and the textures of the workshop.

The photograph entered the V&A’s collection shortly after the museum began acquiring photographic material in 1852. In 1864 the museum purchased 500 images from Laffon’s Campana series through the dealer E. Cappe, incorporating them into the National Art Library’s holdings for educational use.

At the time, the Victoria and Albert Museum, under founding director Henry Cole, promoted photography as a teaching aid for artists and students. Laffon’s work, alongside that of other women photographers such as Isabel Agnes Cowper, contributed to the museum’s early visual archive, documenting objects and interiors for scholarly reference.

Although long overlooked, Laffon’s shoemaker’s shop photograph exemplifies the role of female practitioners in the formative years of museum photography. Its preservation illustrates the V&A’s early commitment to using photographic documentation as a resource for art education and research.