Photograph of Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre

Photograph of Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre

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Description
A popular portrait method of photography from the 1839 announcement of its invention to about 1860, the Daguerreotype was a unique photograph with no negative—each photograph was exposed on a copper plate coated with silver-nitrate. The process was later replaced with easier and less hazardous methods of negative-positiv-based photography like wet-plate collodion and albumen.
This half-length Daguerreotype portrait of Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre, inventor of this photographic process (1839), was taken by American photographer Charles R. Meade when he visited Daguerre at his home in Bry-sur-Marne, France, in 1848. The image is matted in a wooden picture frame for exhibition, unlike most Daguerreotypes, which are preserved in small cases. The photograph was donated to the Smithsonian in 1890.
Location
Currently not on view
Object Name
photograph
Object Type
daguerreotype
Date made
1848
depicted
Daguerre, Louis Jacques Mande
maker
Meade, Charles R.
Place Made
France: Île-de-France, Bry-sur-Marne
Associated Place
United States: Missouri, Saint Louis
Physical Description
copper (overall material)
Measurements
overall: 27 cm x 22.5 cm x 3 cm; 10 5/8 in x 8 7/8 in x 1 3/16 in
ID Number
PG.003115
catalog number
3115
accession number
23473
Credit Line
G. Cramer
subject
Portraits
See more items in
Work and Industry: Photographic History
Photography
Data Source
National Museum of American History
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