Untitled (Portrait of Man)
Medium
Daguerreotype
Dimensions
10.8 × 8.2 cm (4 5/16 × 3 1/4 in.); Open case: 11.9 × 18.6 × 1.2 cm (4 11/16 × 7 3/8 × 1/2 in.); Case: 11.9 × 9.3 × 1.7 cm (4 11/16 × 3 11/16 × 11/16 in.); Plate: 10.8 × 8.3 cm (4 1/4 × 3 1/4 in.)
Classification
portrait
Department
Photography and Media
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
249867
Art Historical Context
Step into the dawn of photography with *Untitled (Portrait of Man, a exquisite daguerreotype by John Adams Whipple from 1854. Housed in the Art Institute of Chicago's and Media department, this intimate portrait captures a gentleman in a small, jewel-like plate measuring just 10.8 × 8.2 cm, typical of the era's protective cases that safeguarded these fragile treasures. Whipple, a pioneering Boston photographer, mastered the daguerreotype process—photography's first practical method, introduced in 1839. Unlike later prints, each daguerreotype is a unique, mirror-reversed image on a silvered co...