Sepia painting is a picture painted in brown tones (sepia), in which some of the paint had finely chopped hair mixed in with it.  These pictures were almost always of a scenic nature, often times with a lady is classical attire seated or standing nearby.  Most of the painting are done on ivory or glass.

Sepia Jewelry

Sepia painted jewelry became popular in the 1700's and was still being made in the 1800's.  Most popular of the mourning sepia paintings  were the scenes in a cemetery, almost all of them incorporated a gravestone, a weeping willow or other tree which was embellished with hair.  These pieces are usually quite small, around 1" in length, the  pin running upright instead of horizontally.  There were also rings made with sepia paintings.
 
 

Sepia Pictures

These pictures are  around 4" - 5" in diameter.  Most of the pictures are of scenery and almost always include trees, sometimes a castle, and frequently a cemetery scene.

The most finely executed pieces of sepia painting appear to come from France.  Other pieces are known to have been done in England and the United States.

Symbolism was important to the Victorians and they incorporated a lot of symbolism in the sepia paintings.  The picture above has the two hearts together which indicate a husband and wife, birds, which is the eternal life, the dog indicates the fidelity of the surviving spouse, and the flowers on each side of the stone are forget me nots.  The initials of the deceased on on the tombstone, and the evergreen trees represent everlasting.

Antique Sepia Picture Courtesy of Darlene at Things Gone By