Portrait of four children from December 1851
This photograph shows four children, probably siblings, carefully posed by the photographer on and around a couple wooden chairs — the younger boy kneeling on a kitchen chair, and the youngest girl seated in a high-chair. Despite the photographer’s best efforts, the expressions on the children are of suspicion and confusion. The older girl has one hand draped around the forearm of the younger boy, while the older boy holds one of the little girls hands — both quite awkwardly. The children neither understand nor approve of these arrangements, but Momma is probably off to one side, urging them to behave, so they try their best.
I don’t know who the photographer was, or exactly where this was taken, but I have noted that it was taken in December of 1851. It is a fine daguerreotype from just a dozen years after the introduction of photography to the public, so there was still a lot of experimenting going on to find pleasing poses. This photographer didn’t bother with any props beyond the chairs needed to raise the younger children to the heights of their standing siblings. This image provides a good view of children’s clothing from the early 1850s.
Daguerreotype of an Older Woman from 1855
This image shows an older woman wearing a light colored bonnet with lacy ties hanging down loose. The hair is center parted, of course, with side bulges typical of the early 1850s. Her dress is dark with epaulets on the sleeves and she wears a shiny silk shawl thrown around her shoulders. We can see many pleats where the skirt meets the bodice, but many other details are obscured by the shawl.
The dress has a broad white lace collar, and she is also wearing a thin neck ribbon. There is a dark broach at her throat, probably of inlaid jet. Very light tinting has been added to give her face a more natural color. No doubt she thought the daguerreotype drew her many wrinkles in a bit too sharp of detail.
The daguerreotype is cased, and has a fairly plain mat, with just a light embossed line around the opening, which is rectangular with rounded corners. The preserver is a lighter colored brass, and of a simple repetitive leaf and flower pattern.
Joseph Jenkins Roberts 1851, copy by Rufus P Anson c1853
This daguerreotype portrait of Joseph Jenkins Roberts is probably a copy of an image taken in 1851 by African-American daguerreian Augustus Washington, when Roberts and his wife were visiting the United States from Liberia. Roberts was born in Virginia, but moved to Liberia in 1829, where he was a colonial governor and later the first president when the country became independent.
This image bears the imprint of Anson, 589 Broadway. That was Rufus P Anson, who had a studio at that New York address from 1853 until about 1860. The plain matte and decorative preserver are typical of the early to mid-1850s, so this copy was probably produced between 1853 and 1856.
This is a good reminder that photographs can have more than one date associated with them — the date the image was taken may be earlier than the date it was printed. In this case, a few years makes little difference in the clothing styles of a gentleman, but it allows us to reconcile the fact that Roberts was in Africa while Anson was operating his studio at 589 Broadway in New York.
