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[Unidentified man and woman, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing front] – Vintage Photo Print

[Unidentified man and woman, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing front], [between 1840 and 1860] — historic photograph
[Unidentified man and woman, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing front], [between 1840 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

This rare historic photograph captures [Unidentified man and woman, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing front] in remarkable detail. The original is held by the Library of Congress, so what you hang is a true record of its time.

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[Unidentified man and woman, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing front]

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What sets this quarter plate daguerreotype apart is that it shows a man and a woman, both unidentified, in a head-and-shoulders view facing the camera, and that its case carries a central floral motif. Daguerreotypes like this were made on silvered copper plates sealed behind glass in hinged cases, and the image appears positive or negative depending on the angle at which it is held. The Library of Congress holds it in its daguerreotype collection. It reached the Manuscript Division in 1985 as part of the papers of chemist Harvey Washington Wiley, so the sitters may have been known to his family, though the record does not say.

Created / published[between 1840 and 1860]
Medium1 photograph : quarter plate daguerreotype.
GenrePortrait photographs 1840-1860.Group portraits 1840-1860.Daguerreotypes 1840-1860.
NotesPhotographer unidentified. Case: central floral motif. Transfer; Manuscript Division; 1985; (DLC/PP-1985:575). Forms part of: Harvey Washington Wiley Papers, ca. 1854-1944 (Library of Congress). Forms part of: Daguerreotype collection (Library of Congress).
SourceLibrary of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Original scan4,096 × 3,272 px · prints to 14 × 11 in at 300 dpi
Reference348_Unidentified_man_and_wo_1840

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