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[Robert Cornelius, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing front, with arms crossed] – Vintage Wall Art

[Robert Cornelius, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing front, with arms crossed], 1839 [Oct. or Nov.] — historic photograph
[Robert Cornelius, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing front, with arms crossed], 1839 [Oct. or Nov.]. 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

[Robert Cornelius, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing front, with arms crossed] comes to life in this historic photograph, reproduced from the original with every detail intact. An authentic image from the Library of Congress, it carries the weight of the real historical record.

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[Robert Cornelius, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing front, with arms crossed]

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Few portraits make as early a claim as this head-and-shoulders self-portrait by Robert Cornelius, a Philadelphia lamp maker who took up the new daguerreotype process in 1839. He faces the camera with his arms folded, holding still through the long exposures that early plates required. The paper backing carries a note calling it the first light picture ever taken, a claim often repeated for this image, and it remains one of the most cited survivors of American photography's first months.

Created / published1839 [Oct. or Nov.]
Medium1 photograph : approximate quarter plate daguerreotype.
GenreDaguerreotypes 1830-1840.Portrait photographs 1830-1840.Self portraits 1830-1840.
NotesWritten on paper backing: The first light picture ever taken. 1839. Robert Cornelius: Portraits from the dawn of photography / Stapp. Smithsonian Institution Press, 1983, p. 50. Gift; Marian S. Carson; 1996; (DLC/PP-1996:086.3). Forms part of: Daguerreotype collection (Library of Congress). Forms part of: Marian S. Carson collection (Library of Congress) Published in: Gathering history: the Marian S. Carson collection of Americana. Washington, D.C. : Library of Congress, 1999, p. 100. Exhibited: American Treasures of the Library of Congress.
SubjectsCornelius, Robert,--1809-1893.
SourceLibrary of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Original scan3,285 × 4,096 px · prints to 11 × 14 in at 300 dpi
Reference119_Robert_Cornelius_headan_1839

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