Leonard Sells stands in full-length pose for this albumen CDV produced by C. F. Putney, artist, of Independence, Iowa, most likely during the Civil War era of the early 1860s. The ink inscription "Leonard Sells" appears in cursive script at the bottom of the mount recto, providing a firm identification for this Iowa soldier.

Sells wears a loose sack coat with visible button closure over a light-colored waistcoat and pale trousers, his right hand resting on the back of a turned-wood spindle chair beside him. A painted arch outline frames the figure against a plain studio backdrop, and his expression is direct and composed beneath a trimmed beard and mustache.

Independence, Iowa, was a Buchanan County seat with an active population of men who served in Iowa volunteer regiments throughout the Civil War, and Putney's studio, located opposite the Montour House, was among the local establishments that documented soldiers before or after their service.

The reverse bears the printed imprint of C. F. Putney, Artist, opposite the Montour House, Independance, Iowa, along with penciled numerical notations reading 340, 343, and a column of figures including 700, 360, 359, 0, 353, and 350.

From the collection of James Lee Soffer