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[James Duncan, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing left] – Vintage Wall Art

[James Duncan, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing left], [between 1840 and 1849] — historic photograph
[James Duncan, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing left], [between 1840 and 1849]. 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: [James Duncan, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing left], preserved in this historic photograph. An authentic image from the Library of Congress, it carries the weight of the real historical record.

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[James Duncan, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing left]

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A quarter-plate daguerreotype shows James Duncan, who lived from 1810 to 1849, from the shoulders up and turned to his left. The plate dates from sometime in the 1840s, and its maker is unidentified. It belongs to the Library of Congress as part of the Henry Jackson Hunt Papers, transferred to the library in 1993. Daguerreotypes are positive images on polished silver-coated copper, so their tones shift with the angle of light and look best viewed at a slight tilt. Sitters of the period often had to hold still for many seconds, which explains the composed stillness common in portraits from this decade.

Created / published[between 1840 and 1849]
Medium1 photograph : quarter plate daguerreotype.
GenrePortrait photographs 1840-1850.Daguerreotypes 1840-1850.
NotesPhotographer unidentified. Identification based on DAG no. 328. Transfer; Manuscript Division; 1993; (DLC/PP-1993:136). Forms part of: Henry Jackson Hunt Papers, 1841-1978 (Library of Congress). Forms part of: Daguerreotype collection (Library of Congress).
SubjectsDuncan, James,--1810-1849.
SourceLibrary of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Original scan3,259 × 4,096 px · prints to 11 × 14 in at 300 dpi
Reference219_James_Duncan_headandsho_1840

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