Untitled (Portrait of a Woman and a Boy)
1855
Medium
Daguerreotype
Dimensions
8.2 × 7 cm (3 1/4 × 2 13/16 in.); Open case: 9.2 × 16 × 1.1 cm (3 5/8 × 6 5/16 × 7/16 in.); Case: 9.2 × 8 × 1.6 cm (3 5/8 × 3 3/16 × 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
250058
Art Historical Context
In the mid-19th century, photography was still a wondrous novelty, this untitled daguerreotype captured the tender bond between a woman and a boy, likely a mother and son. Produced in 1855 by an maker, the intimate portrait measures just 8.2 × 7 cm, housed in a protective case typical of the era. Housed in the Art Institute of Chicago's and Media department, it exemplifies the daguerreotype process—a pioneering technique invented by Louis Daguerre in 1839 that produced sharp, mirror-like images on silver-plated copper sheets, each one utterly unique and impossible to duplicate. Daguerreotypes...