Untitled (Portrait of a Man)
1850s
Medium
Daguerreotype
Dimensions
13.9 × 10.8 cm (5 1/2 × 4 5/16 in.); Open case: 15.1 × 24 × 1.4 cm (6 × 9 1/2 × 9/16 in.); Case: 15.1 × 12 × 1.9 cm (6 × 4 3/4 × 3/4 in.); Plate: 14 × 10.8 cm (5 1/2 × 4 1/4 in.)
Classification
portrait
Department
Photography and Media
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
250064
Art Historical Context
**Untitled (Portrait of a Man)** by L. H. Hale, ca. 1850s, captures the quiet dignity of its unnamed subject in a pristine daguerreotype—a pioneering photographic process that defined early portraiture. Housed in an ornate case measuring 15.1 × 12 × 1.9 cm, this intimate 13.9 × 10.8 cm image reflects the mid-19th-century fascination with photography as a democratic art form, making lifelike likenesses accessible beyond elite painted portraits. Daguerreotypes, invented in 1839, produced one-of-a-kind positive images on silver-plated copper, renowned for their mirror-like detail and subtle tona...