Snapshots of the Past

[William Ballard Preston, half-length portrait, nearly facing front] – Historic Photograph Print

[William Ballard Preston, half-length portrait, nearly facing front], [between 1844 and 1849] — historic photograph
[William Ballard Preston, half-length portrait, nearly facing front], [between 1844 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: [William Ballard Preston, half-length portrait, nearly facing 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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[William Ballard Preston, half-length portrait, nearly facing front]

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This half-plate daguerreotype shows William Ballard Preston in a half-length view, turned nearly to face the camera. Its identification rests on an engraving by Ritchie published as the frontispiece to *The American Review* in September 1849, and a scratched inscription on the back of the plate also reads "Preston." Preston, a Virginia Whig who later served as Secretary of the Navy, sat during the years when Mathew Brady's studio was making daguerreotype portraits of prominent Americans. The gold toning gives the silvered plate its warm, subdued tone, a finishing step that made these small mirror-like images more durable.

Created / published[between 1844 and 1849]
Medium1 photograph : half plate daguerreotype, gold toned.
GenrePortrait photographs 1840-1850.Daguerreotypes 1840-1850.
NotesIdentification from engraving by Ritchie in The American Review, Sept. 1849, frontispiece. Scratched on back of plate: 439; Preston. Transfer; U.S. War College; 1920. (DLC/PP-1920:46153). Forms part of: Daguerreotype collection (Library of Congress). Produced by Mathew Brady's studio.
SubjectsPreston, William Ballard,--1805-1862.
SourceLibrary of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Original scan1,198 × 1,536 px · prints to 4 × 5 in at 300 dpi
Reference540_William_Ballard_Preston_1844

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