Saturday, January 11, 2014

Daguerreotypes

Benjamin Family

Donkey Cart

Latch Maker

Peddlar

These daguerreotypes were all made in the 1850s in the United States, using technology recently arrived from France. They are preserved now in the Daguerreotype Collection at the Library of Congress.

Sewing Machine Operator

Henrietta

Unidentified Couple

Unidentified Woman

William Sidney Mount

The dashing subject immediately above, William Sidney Mount, also appeared in yesterday's post as the sitter in a glass-plate portrait created a decade later than this one. He was a professional painter specializing in historical and genre scenes. He was also prosperous, confident and elegant, to judge by the persona he succeeds in projecting here. Today the art he left behind hangs in dim provincial museums or the storerooms of large ones. Perhaps someday he will enjoy a revival.