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[Elliott Cresson, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing front] – Vintage Wall Art

[Elliott Cresson, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing front], 1840, May 30. — historic photograph
[Elliott Cresson, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing front], 1840, May 30.. 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

Few images capture their era like this historic photograph of [Elliott Cresson, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing front]. The original is held by the Library of Congress, so what you hang is a true record of its time.

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[Elliott Cresson, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing front]

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This sixth-plate daguerreotype shows Elliott Cresson, a Philadelphia philanthropist, in a head-and-shoulders view facing the camera, and its paper seal is dated May 30, 1840. The printed label on the seal identifies the maker as R. Cornelius, whose studio on Eighth Street in Philadelphia sold daguerreotype miniatures. Robert Cornelius was among the city's earliest photographic portraitists, and the sitting falls within the first decade of the medium, when exposures took several minutes and each plate was a unique, mirror-like image. The brass case is cast, as was typical for portraits of the period.

Created / published1840, May 30.
Medium1 photograph : approximate sixth plate daguerreotype.
GenreDaguerreotypes 1840.Portrait photographs 1840.
NotesPrinted on yellow paper label pasted to the paper seal: Daguerreotype miniatures, by R. Cornelius, Eighth Street, above Chesnut [sic], Philadelphia. Written on paper seal: E. Cresson, May 30th, 1840. In cast brass frame. Robert Cornelius: Portraits from the dawn of photography / Stapp. Smithsonian Institution Press, 1983, p. 60. Purchase; Marian S. Carson; 1996; (DLC/PP-1996:088.6). Forms part of: Daguerreotype collection (Library of Congress). Forms part of: Marian S. Carson collection (Library of Congress)
SourceLibrary of Congress
Original scan4,030 × 5,000 px · prints to 13 × 17 in at 300 dpi
Reference126_Elliott_Cresson_headand_1840

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