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Reflections on Daguerreotypes
By Shaun Caton
When we look at a daguerreotype we are looking into the mirror of history, penetrating an image from a time we have never known or physically lived in, eavesdropping on the long dead with the privilege of an anonymous scrutiny and the solitary advantage of extended voyeurism. We stare into the eyes of the departed and imbue them with new life, meaning and charisma. What pathos and bathos stare back at us through the spectral haze of generations. What lives lived and evaporated touch our mute sensibilities.
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Plate 1
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Plate 2
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These dusty souvenirs out of time have reached us by a shuffling of hands (legerdemain?) through a totally unknown chain of circumstances and events. Their silent journey to us has been a packaged passage through generations of veneration, interpretation, recycled memories and mystery. Pocketed next to the heart, the daguerreotype was the ultimate Victorian keepsake - a likeness to be loved and cherished, possibly the only photographic image a person would possess of themselves in the period 1839-1855.
A triumph of optics, chemistry and art, the daguerreotype retains its image in astonishing detail and is completely unique: without a negative (the photographic image is a direct positive on a silvered copper plate) and cannot fade into oblivion like paper photographs. Complete with its blooming of blue tarnish and the blemishes of chemical aging processes, the daguerreotype has the propensity to form a holographic impression every time it is studied. Tilted this way and that, the image comes alive momentarily giving the illusion of a living being, fleetingly radiant and simultaneously clamouring for our attention like the dispersing vestiges of dreams.
Viewing a daguerreotype is a collaboration of sorts in which the viewer enters into a participatory exchange with the likeness. One must make an effort to "see" the image properly. This does not just mean an optical interchange. It is necessary to understand something about the artistry and background to the daguerreotype to fully appreciate its profound beauty and attraction. Given these considerations suddenly the image of the sitter comes into "being" once again, offering the semblance of a frozen living reality on the plate. Do we love these silent images more knowing that their subjects are the anonymous dead? The daguerreotype harbours many marvellous qualities presenting the viewer with the breathtaking minutiae of the 1840's and 50's and the gift of an everlasting secret.
Perhaps its greatest characteristic is that it affords the beholder the talismanic magic of dreaming, of wondering who this person trapped within the mirror-like surface of the photographic image was.
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Plate 3
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Plate 4
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Supposition is an ongoing process of evaluation especially when we have scant recorded detail or information to aid us in our survey of the daguerreotypes that have come down to us through time. Ultimately, we are confronted with the technology and aesthetics of the mid-Victorian epoch combined in this production of life-like reproduction.
The daguerreotype arrived on the scene during the utmost pinnacle of the booming industrial revolution and is quite certainly mankind's earliest interaction with photochemical portraiture/proliferation. And who were those first faces that gazed solemnly or apprehensively into the camera lens? Who were these curious denizens of London who sat clamped and immobilised before the apparatus in 1841 at Richard Beard's Royal Polytechnic Studio and at Antoine Claudet's Adelaide Gallery?
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Plate 2A
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Plate 5
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The following scanned reproductions reveal for the first time some of the earliest extant daguerreotype portraits made in the United Kingdom between 1841-43. The average cost of a 9th plate daguerreotype likeness (bust portrait) made at Richard Beard's Royal Polytechnic Institution was one guinea (GBP 1.05) in 1841 - an expensive commodity which only the rich and landed gentry could afford to indulge.
Plate 5 carries the embossed Beard Patentee logo on the mat and is a typical example of Beard's earliest 9th plate daguerreotype portrait and shows a young woman with a heavily solarised lace shawl. Virtually all of the daguerreotypes from this period are 8th (see plate 9 - an 8th plate portrait of a young man circa 1841-42) or 9th plates (see plates 6, 7 and 8) of an irregular cut, with a cold blue-grey cast to the image.
Mats are either marked 'Beard Patentee' or signed in blue/black ink inside the back of the case "Rich'd Beard" (see plates 2 image and case interior) in a tiny printed paper oval etiquette - however these are rare. The case was patented by Thomas Wharton in August 1841 and consists of brass or tin preserver bearing the royal coat of Arms (holding the daguerreotype plate) and is typically of a domed top hinged Morocco design in deep burgundy leather usually with a plush velvet liner on the underside of the top lid. An outstanding example of a daguerreotype in this format of case can be seen in plate 1.
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Plate 6
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Plate 7
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Nearly all of Beard's earliest portraits are claustrophobically close to the sitter and depict the head and shoulders with the person staring straight into the camera lens (at the instruction of the operator). From 1842 onwards Beard employed miniature painters to hand colour daguerreotypes. This new technique proved very popular:
" The principal defect of the photographic portraits hitherto has been the ghastly appearance they sometimes presented, like a person seen by moonlight, or reflected in water;…Mr Beard has now discovered the means of colouring the plates after the photogenic drawing is completed, thus giving the warmth and truth of a miniature painting. "
Improvements in Colouring Daguerreotype Pictures, 1842.
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Plate 8
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Plate 9
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Plate 3 is an evocative quarter plate portrait of a seated middle aged gentleman by one of Beard's studios taken in about 1842-43 and illustrates the minimal tinting restricted to the facial area in the daguerreotype. The image is astonishingly clear for the period.
An interesting example of the deluxe package can be viewed in plate 4. This is an oversize 9th plate of a young man taken in about 1841. Notice his intense gaze - he was obviously trying not to blink and his eyes seem large and protuberant during the lengthy exposure. The plate is heavy and bears the name 'Phillips 'on the obverse in delicate copperplate handwriting. The plush Rhone style case is chunky and has a domed top opening lid. The daguerreotype is held in a tin preserver with an elaborate foliate patterned mat. Sometimes these have the Beard Patentee logo in an embossed oval underneath the image. Often though, they appear unmarked.
As Beard held the sole rights to the daguerreotype patent in the United Kingdom in 1841, it can be concluded that most of the surviving examples of daguerreotypes which appear in this style of presentation are from one of his various photographic studios.
Plate 10
The earliest hand tinted plates employ a limited range of flesh tones (carmine red) and focus was mainly on the head/hands. Claudet's earliest portraits from the Adelaide Gallery employ an elaborately painted backdrop of a Lakeland scene in front of which the sitter is often positioned looking askance to the left or right or upwards - but very seldom directly at the camera. Claudet favoured " artistic" poses and was heavily influenced by the fashionable paintings and prints of the period. Thus his portraits attempt to portray something about the sitter other than merely their appearance.
Claudet attempts to evoke something of their contemplative or intellectual qualities as he poses them with finger to lips pondering some other worldly concept. It is not uncommon for sitters to hold a book, letter or document to further exemplify the education and good breeding of the subject. Adult literacy was considered a great attribute in Victorian society. In both cases sitters are always represented wearing their finest clothes and jewellery and can be seen as status symbols. These daguerreotypes are also an inventory of England's wealthiest citizens: aristocrats, writers, public figures, inventors etc… many of whom are identified in elaborate handwriting on notes affixed to the cases or by their names tucked behind the image.
The first daguerreotype portraits made in Britain tended to emulate the fashion of miniature paintings in scale and style of presentation - many found homes in lacquered papier mache frames with an ormolu surround and hanging ring which had previously been used to display Georgian silhouettes. This small selection of daguerreotypes from the early pioneer and experimental British period is intended to show the image, formatting and sort of clientele who patronised the first daguerreotype studios. It is by no means a comprehensive inventory and forms only a small, general part in a much bigger picture.
After 1842 the craze for daguerreotypes exploded and studios burgeoned in all major British towns and cities. Although it was principally a novelty for the middle/upper classes it seldom touched upon the range of subjects explored in American Daguerreian lore. As a most magnificent form of photographic art it transformed the way in which society viewed itself (and wanted in turn to be 'seen') and paved the way for an amazing synthesis of art and science during the middle of the Victorian age.
Copyright C. Shaun Caton 2004. All rights reserved.
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About the author |
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Shaun is an internationally known writer, curator and collector of daguerreotypes who has written extensively in journals and magazines throughout the World on daguerreotypes.
His highly original style of writing makes for engaging and informative reading.
All rights for this article and the beautiful images remain with Shaun.
Click on the images for a larger or closer view.
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