Portrait of a Man
c. 1864
Medium
salted paper print with applied color
Dimensions
image (visible): 13.8 × 9.5 cm (5 7/16 × 3 3/4 in.) mat: 24.3 × 19.4 cm (9 9/16 × 7 5/8 in.) framed: 39.2 × 34.4 × 6.7 cm (15 7/16 × 13 9/16 × 2 5/8 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Mary and Dan Solomon
Accession Number
2018.177.216
Art Historical Context
This intimate *Portrait of a Man*, created around 1864 by an anonymous American photographer, captures the solemn gaze of its subject against a plain backdrop, evoking the everyday lives of mid-19th-century Americans. Produced during the height of the Civil War, such portraits served as cherished keepsakes for families separated by conflict, offering a personal touch in an era of national upheaval. The artwork is a salted paper print—a pioneering technique invented by William Henry Fox Talbot in the 1840s—made by sensitizing paper with salt and silver nitrate to create images from paper negat...
About the Artist
American 19th Century
The artist cataloged as "American, 19th Century" represents a collective of unidentified painters active in the United States during the nineteenth century, with 380 known artworks preserved in this virtual museum's collection. These works span a diverse array of genres typical of the era, including portraits, landscapes, still lifes, and genre scenes, reflecting the burgeoning artistic output of ...