Veteran of the Napoleonic Wars
September 14, 1850
Medium
Daguerreotype
Dimensions
Image (visible): 9.4 × 7 cm (3 11/16 × 2 3/4 in.) Frame: 21.9 × 19.8 cm (8 5/8 × 7 13/16 in.)
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Rubel Collection, Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, 1997
Accession Number
1997.382.44
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the early dawn of photography with *Veteran of the Napole Wars*, a poignant daguerreotype captured on September 14, 1850. This portrait, measuring just 9.4 × 7 cm, depicts unnamed man whose weathered features likely bear the scars of battles fought decades earlier during Napoleon Bonaparte's epic campaigns (1799–1815). at the Metropolitan Museum of Art from The Rubel Collection, it exemplifies the daguerreotype process—invented by Louis Daguerre in 183—which created a one-of-a-kind, mirror-like positive image on a silvered copper plate, prized for its astonishing detail and lifelike ...
About the Artist
Unknown
The artist designated as "Unknown" in our virtual museum's collection exemplifies a poignant chapter in art history: creators whose identities have faded into obscurity despite the enduring power of their work. With only one known artwork attributed to them in our holdings, this figure represents countless anonymous hands that shaped visual culture across centuries. Museums worldwide, including th...