A house painter poses in full working dress before a studio backdrop in this albumen cabinet card, made by Simmons and La Tier at 103 East 4th Street, Waterloo, Iowa. The firm advertised "Instantaneous Process Used Exclusively" on its ornately printed reverse, placing the card firmly in the mid-to-late 1880s. The subject chose to be photographed in his trade identity rather than Sunday best, making this an uncommon occupational portrait.

He wears heavily paint-stained trousers and a work apron over a vest and loosely knotted necktie, one foot resting on the lowest rung of a wooden stepladder. His right arm extends to rest fingers atop a wooden paint bucket sitting on the ladder's top shelf, while his left hand grips a flat scraper or putty knife. A small paint can and a hat rest on the studio floor at the ladder's base, and a second tin sits on a middle rung.

Occupational cabinet cards staged with actual trade tools are among the most collectible examples of the format, and this painter's deliberate arrangement of ladder, buckets, and hand tools makes for an unusually complete workshop portrait. The mount features a blue scalloped edge and the elaborate Simmons and La Tier imprint on the reverse, with the notation "75-RV" penciled at the top.