Untitled (Portrait of a Seated Woman and a Standing Man)
1850s
Medium
Daguerreotype
Dimensions
8.3 × 7 cm (3 5/16 × 2 13/16 in.); Open case: 9.7 × 16.6 × 1.3 cm (3 7/8 × 6 9/16 × 9/16 in.); Case: 9.7 × 8.3 × 1.7 cm (3 7/8 × 3 5/16 × 11/16 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
249856
Art Historical Context
This striking daguerreotype from the 1850s captures an intimate moment between a seated woman and a standing man, their formal poses reflecting the conventions of mid-nineteenth-century portraiture. Created by the renowned Boston partnership of Southworth & Hawes, the image the early years of photography when the medium was still a novel and somewhat miraculous invention. The compact size, designed to fit comfortably in the hand or a pocket, suggests it was made as a personal keepsake rather than a public display piece. Daguerreotypes like this one hold special historical significance as amon...