Untitled (Portrait of William G. Worrell of Welch’s National Circus)
1855
Medium
Daguerreotype
Dimensions
14 × 10.8 cm (5 9/16 × 4 5/16 in.); Open case: 15.1 × 24.2 × 1.1 cm (6 × 9 9/16 × 7/16 in.); Case: 15.1 × 12.1 × 1.9 cm (6 × 4 13/16 × 3/4 in.); Plate: 14 × 10.8 cm (5 1/2 × 4 1/4 in.)
Classification
portrait
Department
Photography and Media
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
250161
Art Historical Context
Step into the spotlight of 1850s America with this captivating *Untitled (Portrait of William G. Worrell of Welch’s National Circus)*, a rare daguerreotype from 1855. Captured by an unknown maker, this intimate 14 × 10.8 cm portrait depicts Worrell, a performer with one of the era's premier traveling circuses, housed in its original protective case for safekeeping. Daguerreotypes like this were the pinnacle of early photography—a one-of-a-kind positive image etched onto a polished silver-plated copper sheet, gleaming with a mirror-like sheen when tilted just right. In the mid-19th century, da...