Snapshots of the Past

Half-length portrait of an unidentified man – Antique Photo Print

Half-length portrait of an unidentified man, 1851 — historic photograph
Half-length portrait of an unidentified man, 1851. Historic photograph from the Daguerreotypes & Early Photography collection.

(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: Half-length portrait of an unidentified man, preserved in this historic photograph. Drawn from the Snapshots of the Past archive, it is an authentic piece of documented history.

Framed, it is ready for the wall; unframed, it is ready for the frame you choose. A conversation-starting piece for home, office, or as a meaningful gift. Free shipping in the lower 48 states. Snapshots of the Past has been bringing history to the wall since 2001, for tens of thousands of customers worldwide.

Half-length portrait of an unidentified man

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Ask about licensing or this print

A half-length portrait of an unidentified man, dated 1851, sits among the daguerreotypes on this board, and the sitter's anonymity is part of what makes it worth a look. Daguerreotypes were unique positives made on silvered copper plates, so each one is a single object rather than a print that could be run off again. By 1851 the process had been public for only about a dozen years, and studio portraits like this one were becoming common among working and middle-class sitters who could not have afforded a painted likeness. The mirror-like surface of the plate means the image shifts with the angle of light, so the viewer's own reflection is part of the experience.

Created / published1851
Original scan1,023 × 1,536 px · prints to 3 × 5 in at 300 dpi
Reference662_Unidentified_man_halfle_1851

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Snapshots of the Past helps heritage brands, museums, historians and storytellers tell stories with history: historic prints, image licensing and historical storytelling drawn from more than 25 years of research and curation.

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