Col. Barts, identified in a period inscription on the reverse, is the central figure in this cabinet card portrait, a broad-shouldered giant dressed in a military-style tunic with epaulettes, decorative button closure, embroidered boots, and white trousers. He stands arm in arm with a woman in a dark silk bustle gown trimmed with ruffled tiers, lace collar, and fitted sleeves, while a bearded man of notably small stature stands to the right in a long dark frock coat, his hands folded, gazing upward at the pair. The composition is a deliberate three-figure contrast arrangement characteristic of sideshow and curiosity promotional portraiture from the 1870s and 1880s.

Col. Barts appears to have been exhibited as a giant attraction, and the pairing with a woman of average height and a man of small stature is a classic promotional formula used by touring exhibitions and dime museum acts of the period to dramatize scale for audiences and souvenir card buyers alike. The military costume, a common theatrical affectation among exhibition giants, lends the subject an air of authority and spectacle. No photographer's imprint is visible on the mount.

The reverse bears a pencil inscription reading "Col. Barts," a catalog notation "c660c," and a price marking of "$25.00."

From the collection of James Lee Soffer