Portraits of Three Women, Two Men and Three Children
c. 1850
Medium
4 daguerreotypes with applied color in a brass locket
Dimensions
image (each): 3.3 × 3.3 cm (1 5/16 × 1 5/16 in.) overall (locket closed): 6 × 4.3 × 1 cm (2 3/8 × 1 11/16 × 3/8 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Pepita Milmore Memorial Fund
Accession Number
2014.86.2
Art Historical Context
Step into the intimate world of mid-19th-century America *Portraits of Three Women Two Men and Three Children a set of four diminutive daguerreotypes housed in a delicate brass locket. Created 1850 by an anonymous American photographer, each 3.3 cm square image captures family members in stiff, formal poses typical of the era's portraiture. The locket's compact size—closing to just 6 × 4.3 × 1 cm—suggests it was designed as a cherished personal heirloom, perhaps worn close to the heart. Daguerreotypes, the first commercially viable photographic process introduced in 1839, marked a revolutiona...
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 ...