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Not currently on display at the V&A

Daguerreotype

1851 (photographed)
Artist/Maker
William Edward Kilburn (photographer)
Place of origin
London (photographed)

Kilburn opened a Daguerreotype studio in London in 1846. He advertised his portraits in the press stating that 'The likeness taken by the photographic process serves merely as a sketch for the miniature, which is painted by M. Mansion, whose productions on Ivory are so celebrated in Paris. They have when finished all the delicacy of an elaborate miniature, with the infallible accuracy of expression only obttainable by the photographic process.' Three hand-coloured Daguereotypes by Kilburn were shown at the Great Exhibition in 1851.

The daguerreotype process was introduced to the public in 1839 by Frenchman Louis Daguerre, and was hugely popular as a medium for portraiture until the middle of the 1850s. To create a daguerreotype, a silver plated sheet was given a light sensitive surface coating of iodine vapour. After a long exposure in the camera, the image was developed over heated mercury and fixed in a common salt solution. The image lies on a mirror-like surface and is best seen from an angle to minimise reflections.


Object details

Categories
Photographs
Portraits
Object type
Daguerreotype
Materials and techniques
Photograph, daguerreotype, case
Glass
Daguerreotype
Brief description
Daguerreotype, hand-tinted in gilt mount and maker's case; Kilburn, William Edward. Portrait of a woman with a lace shawl, c. 1851
Physical description
The portrait shows a young woman in a lace shawl, three quarter-length.
Dimensions
  • Image height: 9cm
  • Image width: 6.7cm
  • Case closed height: 12.1cm
  • Case closed width: 9.5cm
  • Case closed depth: 1cm
Style
Victorian
Production typeUnique
Marks and inscriptions
'BY APPOINTMENT / MR KILBURN. / 234 REGENT STREET' (Gold embossed stamp on case)
Gallery label
  • British Galleries DAGUERREOTYPES
    Daguerreotypes are the earliest widely known photographs: their startling clarity is still impressive. The image is made on a brightly polished sheet of silvered copper. This process was initially used almost entirely for commercial portraiture. The photographs here by early amateurs, Horatio Ross and William Edward Kilburn, show a fishing scene and a portrait, prototypes of the ever-popular 'family snapshot'.(14/07/06)
  • Object Type
    Daguerreotypes (an early type of photograph on a silvered copper plate) were usually protected by glass and sometimes kept in leather or thick plastic cases because the highly polished surface is easily scratched. The image is a unique positive made directly onto the plate without a negative, as in other forms of photography. Many daguerreotype photographers replaced miniature painters as makers of portraits as the process was quicker and less expensive.

    Ownership & Use
    Daguerreotypes were not made primarily for public display in exhibitions. Such small and intimate photographs were generally produced as private keepsakes and often remained within the family.

    People
    Kilburn opened a Daguerreotype studio in London in 1846. He advertised his portraits in the press stating that 'Thelikeness taken by the photographic process serves merely as a sketch for the miniature, which is painted by M. Mansion, whose productions on Ivory are so celebrated in Paris. They have when finished all the delicacy of an elaborate miniature, with the infallible accuracy of expression only obttainable by the photographic process.' Three hand-coloured Daguereotypes by Kilburn were shown at the Great Exhibition in 1851.(14/07/06)
Credit line
Given by J. L. Nevinson
Historical context
Donor of this and other fine Daguerreotypes to the V&A in 1939
Production
Reason For Production: Retail
Summary
Kilburn opened a Daguerreotype studio in London in 1846. He advertised his portraits in the press stating that 'The likeness taken by the photographic process serves merely as a sketch for the miniature, which is painted by M. Mansion, whose productions on Ivory are so celebrated in Paris. They have when finished all the delicacy of an elaborate miniature, with the infallible accuracy of expression only obttainable by the photographic process.' Three hand-coloured Daguereotypes by Kilburn were shown at the Great Exhibition in 1851.

The daguerreotype process was introduced to the public in 1839 by Frenchman Louis Daguerre, and was hugely popular as a medium for portraiture until the middle of the 1850s. To create a daguerreotype, a silver plated sheet was given a light sensitive surface coating of iodine vapour. After a long exposure in the camera, the image was developed over heated mercury and fixed in a common salt solution. The image lies on a mirror-like surface and is best seen from an angle to minimise reflections.
Bibliographic reference
Val Williams and Susan Bright, How we are: photographing Britain, from the 1840s to the present London: Tate Publishing, 2007. ISBN: 9781854377142.
Collection
Prints, Drawings & Paintings Collection
Accession number
E.1154-1992

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Record createdApril 10, 2007
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O133726/daguerreotype-william-edward-kilburn/
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