Snapshots of the Past

[John Bell, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing slightly left, eyes front] – Vintage Photo Print

[John Bell, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing slightly left, eyes front], [between 1844 and 1860] — historic photograph
[John Bell, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing slightly left, eyes front], [between 1844 and 1860]. Historic photograph from the Daguerreotypes & Early Photography collection.

(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)

Description

A window into the past: [John Bell, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing slightly left, eyes front], preserved in this historic photograph. It comes from the collections of the Library of Congress, scanned from the original and carefully restored.

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[John Bell, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing slightly left, eyes front]

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Unlike many portraits of its era, this half-plate daguerreotype has its sitter's name scratched into the back of the plate: "Hon. John Bell, Tenn." Bell represented Tennessee in the U.S. House, served as Speaker in 1834 and 1835, and was later Secretary of War under President William Henry Harrison. In 1860 he ran for president as the candidate of the Constitutional Union Party, carrying Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia. The plate was made in Mathew Brady's studio, whose portraits of national figures in the 1840s and 1850s helped shape how public men were pictured, and the gold toning gives its surface a soft, warm cast.

Created / published[between 1844 and 1860]
Medium1 photograph : half plate daguerreotype, gold toned.
GenrePortrait photographs 1840-1860.Daguerreotypes 1840-1860.
NotesScratched on back of plate: Bell, Hon. John, Tenn. Hallmark: [asterisk] Transfer; U.S. War College; 1920; (DLC/PP-1920:46153). Forms part of: Daguerreotype collection (Library of Congress). Produced by Mathew Brady's studio.
SubjectsBell, John,--1797-1869.
SourceLibrary of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Original scan1,203 × 1,536 px · prints to 4 × 5 in at 300 dpi
Reference30_John_Bell_headandshould_1844

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