Untitled (Portrait of a Woman)
1854
Medium
Daguerreotype
Dimensions
8.2 × 7 cm (3 1/4 × 2 13/16 in.); Open case: 9.3 × 16.4 × 1 cm (3 11/16 × 6 1/2 × 7/16 in.); Case: 9.3 × 8.2 × 1.8 cm (3 11/16 × 3 1/4 × 3/4 in.); Each 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
250065
Art Historical Context
Step into the intimate world of mid-19th-century photography with *Untitled (Portrait of a Woman)* by L. H. Hale, created in 1854. This delicate daguerreotype captures the solemn gaze of its unnamed subject, rendered on a small silvered copper plate measuring just 8.2 × 7 cm. Housed in an ornate case that opens to 9.3 × 16.4 × 1 cm, it exemplifies the era's tradition of presenting these precious images as personal keepsakes, often carried in pockets or worn as jewelry. Daguerreotypy, patented by Louis Daguerre in 1839, marked photography's public debut and revolutionized portraiture. Unlike l...