(VICTORIANA) Stunning half plate American daguerreotype of a

Sale 2226 - Lot 71

Price Realized: $ 6,000

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 7,000 - $ 10,000

GONE, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN (VICTORIANA)
Stunning half-plate American daguerreotype of a family in mourning; in a contemporary wood frame. 1847-1850

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The startling 3-dimensionality associated with fine daguerreotypes is unmatched by any emerging technology today. These mirror-like images on silver-coated copper plates were produced by a host of photographers, many of whom are anonymous, like the maker of this photograph. But, in this masterful, and plaintive, study of mourners, he or she (yes, photography was an equal opportunity profession) employed a sophisticated pictorial strategy, which is not typically seen in 19th-century photographic portraiture.

By including a slightly out-of-focus painting of the mother (who may have died in childbirth) this incomplete family group is made visually whole. The irony of this pictorial conceit is not lost on the grieving children, one of whom shows obvious signs of not sleeping. A family of substantial means, the father displays the proper Victorian deportment. But, interestingly, he is not depicted as the central family figure. Seated at the far right, he gazes off-camera while the rendering of his wife along with his children's faces, with their sad expressions, are directed at us, and of course the photographer.