Snapshots of the Past

Woman in dark dress holding a rifle, daguerreotype portrait – Vintage Wall Art

Woman in dark dress holding a rifle, daguerreotype portrait, 1840 — historic photograph
Woman in dark dress holding a rifle, daguerreotype portrait, 1840. 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

This rare historic photograph captures Woman in dark dress holding a rifle, daguerreotype portrait in remarkable detail. It comes from the Snapshots of the Past collection, curated over 25 years for its historical value.

Choose the framed print, ready to hang the day it arrives, or the unframed print for a frame of your own. It makes a striking addition to a living room, study or office, and a thoughtful gift. Free shipping in the lower 48 states. Since 2001, Snapshots of the Past has shipped historic prints to tens of thousands of customers around the world.

Woman in dark dress holding a rifle, daguerreotype portrait

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Ask about licensing or this print

Early portraits rarely show a sitter with a firearm, which sets this 1840 daguerreotype apart: a woman in a dark dress holds a rifle as part of her pose. The image is a direct positive on a polished, silver-coated copper plate, made only about a year after the process was publicly announced in 1839. Exposures then could run from several seconds to minutes, so sitters had to hold still, and the stiffness of such poses is part of what makes these images worth a closer look. The record does not name the sitter or the photographer, so the rifle is best read as a deliberate choice in an era when portraits often conveyed status or character.

Created / published1840
Original scan3,225 × 4,096 px · prints to 11 × 14 in at 300 dpi
Reference285_Occupational_portrait_o_1840

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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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