Untitled (Mt. Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, MA)
Medium
Daguerreotype
Dimensions
21.6 × 16.5 cm (8 9/16 × 6 1/2 in.); Frame: 21.7 × 16.5 × 0.4 cm (8 9/16 × 6 1/2 × 3/16 in.); Plate: 21.6 × 16.6 cm (8 1/2 × 6 1/2 in.)
Classification
portrait
Department
Photography and Media
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
250200
Art Historical Context
This striking daguerreotype from 1850 captures a tranquil view within Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts, one of America’s earliest garden cemeteries. Created by the celebrated Boston partnership of Albert Sands Southworth and Josiah Johnson Hawes, the work exemplifies the early years of photography when the medium was still a remarkable novelty. Their studio became renowned for producing exceptionally detailed and luminous images that elevated photography to an art form. Daguerreotypes like this one required long exposure times and meticulous chemical processes on silver-plated ...