Untitled (Portrait of a Seated Woman)
1848
Medium
Daguerreotype
Dimensions
8 × 6.8 cm (3 3/16 × 2 11/16 in.); Open case: 9.2 × 15.8 × 1 cm (3 5/8 × 6 1/4 × 7/16 in.); Case: 9.2 × 7.9 × 1.4 cm (3 5/8 × 3 1/8 × 9/16 in.); Plate: 8.3 × 7 cm (3 1/4 × 2 3/4 in.)
Classification
portrait
Department
Photography and Media
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
249928
Art Historical Context
Step into the dawn of photography with *Untitled (Portrait of aated Woman)*, a daguerreotype from 8 created by an unknown maker. This intimate portrait captures a woman seated in quiet poise, her image etched onto a tiny silvered copper plate measuring just 8 × 6.8 cm. Housed in a protective case—typical for these delicate treasures—it exemplifies the early magic of the medium, invented by Louis Daguerre only nine years earlier in 1839. Daguerreotypes marked a revolutionary leap, producing one-of-a-kind, mirror-like images with astonishing detail visible when tilted under light. By 1848, port...