[Alexander Melville Bell and David Charles Bell, three-quarter length portrait, seated] – Historic Photograph Print
![[Alexander Melville Bell and David Charles Bell, three-quarter length portrait, seated], [between 1840 and 1850] — historic photograph](https://images.jameslantos.com/img/90/90e53c4793a9-L.webp)
(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 historic photograph of [Alexander Melville Bell and David Charles Bell, three-quarter length portrait, seated] brings a moment of history to your wall. Sourced directly from the Library of Congress, it represents an authentic piece of documented history.
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[Alexander Melville Bell and David Charles Bell, three-quarter length portrait, seated]
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Two brothers sit side by side for this small sixth-plate daguerreotype, one of the earlier portraits in the Bell family holdings at the Library of Congress. The elder of the two, Alexander Melville Bell (1819-1905), was a speech teacher who later devised the Visible Speech notation system, and he was the father of inventor Alexander Graham Bell. The photographer is unidentified, but the daguerreotype dates to the 1840s, when the process was still a fashionable and costly way to record a likeness. The ornate urn-and-scroll design on the case is a typical decorative touch of the period.
| Created / published | [between 1840 and 1850] |
|---|---|
| Medium | 1 photograph : sixth plate daguerreotype. |
| Genre | Portrait photographs 1840-1850.Group portraits 1840-1850.Daguerreotypes 1840-1850. |
| Notes | Photographer unidentified. Hallmark: [?]0 ME. Case: central urn surrounded by scrolls. Transfer; Manuscript Division; 1975; (DLC/PP-1975:199). Forms part of: Gilbert H. Grosvenor collection of Photographs of the Alexander Graham Bell Family (Library of Congress). Forms part of: Daguerreotype collection (Library of Congress). |
| Subjects | Bell, David Charles,--1817-1901. Bell, Alexander Melville,--1819-1905. |
| Source | Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division |
| Original scan | 3,268 × 4,096 px · prints to 11 × 14 in at 300 dpi |
| Reference | 27_Alexander_Melville_Bell_1840 |
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