
- Elderly woman deceased
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Elderly woman deceased
- Object:
Daguerreotype
- Place of origin:
United States (probably, photographed)
- Date:
ca. 1845-1855 (photographed)
- Artist/Maker:
Unknown
- Materials and Techniques:
Sixth plate dagerreotype mounted in hinged wood embossed leather case
- Credit Line:
Purchase funded by the Photographs Acquisition Group
- Museum number:
E.642:1-2014
- Gallery location:
Prints & Drawings Study Room, level C, case MB2H, shelf DR5
The daguerreotype was the first form of photography to be announced to the world in Paris in January 1839. They are unique, direct positive images formed on a sheet of highly polished and silvered copper. The process flourished primarily for commercial portraiture and rapidly replaced portrait miniature painting as a record of a loved one and an intimate keepsake. Mememto mori or post mortem daguerreotypes are an important genre within early photography. The unusual example of the 'double portrait', housed in one case of the elderly woman alive and deceased makes a powerful comparative pairing. The subject's resting pose of her crossed hands in the life portrait is intentionally and aptly echoed in the post mortem image.