By George Moellenbrock, Apple Hill Antiques
The world changed in 1839 when Louis Daguerre, a French painter, announced that he had taken the first permanent photograph of his studio on a thin copper plate covered with silver.
While the camera itself had been invented centuries earlier, it offered only a temporary, fleeting image. The camera obscura could focus a true life image onto a flat surface, but there was no way to permanently fix it in place. Thus was born the first practical and commercial photographic process.
Prior to this, only the wealthy could afford to commission an artist to capture a family portrait the only way possible — in a painting. Now, with this remarkable invention, the middle class could afford to permanently capture a family image for posterity.
At the time, it was momentous enough to be compared to the invention of the steam engine or the telegraph.
In exchange for a pension from the French government, Daguerre shared his invention with the world at no cost. Within a year, the process quickly spread to America after Samuel Morse visited Daguerre and brought it back, showing others how it worked.
Within a few years, thousands of daguerreotype studios opened in large and small cities across the country, often operated by dentists, doctors, chemists or barbers, perhaps due to the technical and chemical process involved. It spread to smaller towns and villages through the work of itinerant photographers who traveled from town to town with mobile studios mounted in wagon vans pulled by horses.
All this helped to hasten and popularize these “magic mirrors.” New York City was said to have more than 100 permanent studios by 1850, fewer than 10 years after its introduction in America.
The process itself, like all analog photography, was the action of light on a chemically sensitized surface. It started with a very highly polished electroplating of silver on a copper plate. The surface had to be polished with special “buffing sticks” to a mirror-like finish. The plate was then coated and sensitized in a closed box where it was subjected to iodine vapors. The plate was then ready for the camera, the photographer and the assembled sitters.
The exposure initially took as long as 30 minutes and no less than five minutes, without any movement by the sitter or the image would be blurred.
Special iron head rests on stands were employed to hold a sitter’s head still during the process. (One often sees daguerreotypes with blurred faces of babies because they could not hold still that long.)
Having a portrait taken was a serious business and not to be taken lightly, as these permanent images were seen as heirlooms to be handed down in families. Consequently, most expressions were quite sober and sometimes often grim. Rarely does one see a relaxed, smiling visage.
The exposed plate was shielded in semi-darkness and placed in a closed mercury fuming box, which then eventually brought out the latent image. The image was made permanent in a fixing solution of hyposulfate of soda, and a “toning” bath in gold chloride improved the tone and depth of the image and also added additional protection. The plate was then carefully washed and dried.
Occasionally, artists were employed by better galleries to apply powdered color pigments at an additional cost. It was a dangerous process due to the toxic chemicals and fumes, and some operators’ lives were cut short due to serious illness.
While the images were permanent, they were fragile and easily scratched and therefore had to be further protected. The plate was paper taped to a cover glass with a brass mat sandwiched between so that the glass did not rest directly on the exposed plate. The packet was finally placed in a leather, papier-mache or early thermoplastic case, the result being a small album with a small hook-like closure. Later, small soft brass frames called preservers were added to more securely hold everything together in the case.
As time went on, the mats, frames and cases became more decorative. Many options were available to the customer. These little photographic albums are commonly called cased images.
Each image was a one-of-a-kind positive image with no negative. The only way to get a copy of an image would be to photograph the photo itself. One can occasionally see the edges of the original daguerreotype in the copy.
Quality of the image, in any case, varied considerably, according to the artistic and technical skill of the photographic operator. (Matthew Brady, of Civil War photographic fame, was one of the most notable and started a gallery of images of famous Americans in his shop in New York City.) Studios were often on the top floor of a building with a skylight that afforded the most natural light.
Since there was no negative and originals could only be copied with another photo, each daguerreotype remains as unique as a painting. This adds to the special charm and attractiveness to the collector.
It was said at the time that the daguerreotype would spell the death of portrait painting, but in fact just the opposite happened, as the photos aided the painter in capturing detail and were available when the sitter was not.
While an oil painting portrait relied solely on the artist’s interpretive and technical skill for success, the camera’s lens told the unvarnished truth. Today, it is hard for us to imagine the wonderment and amazement common folk surely must have felt when they held this small artifact in their hands and beheld their faces and those of their loved ones.
The daguerreotype process gave a highly detailed picture and the image seemed to float on the mirror-like surface of the plate. The best daguerreotypes are as sharp in black-and-white detail and tonal quality as any photographic process existing today. When one holds a daguerreotype in his or her hand and turns it, the image disappears and only the mirror is evident. Only daguerreotypes produce this effect — they truly are ‘magic mirrors.’
Plate sizes ranged from the smallest at less than 2 inches to the rare mammoth and whole plate as large as 12-by-16 inches. These largest ones are extremely rare.
Common daguerreotypes can be found today at flea markets and antique shops for a few dollars or up to $40 to $50. Rare large daguerreotypes by the most skillful artisans of the time and with content of outdoor scenes, townscapes, famous individuals, California gold miners or other occupational individuals can run to tens of thousands of dollars. Images by the notable Boston gallery of Southworth and Hawes are among the most highly prized and valuable, if they can be found.
Like other valuable antiques, size, condition, scarcity and uniqueness, as well as composition, clarity, lighting and posing, rule the day for the very best.
As groundbreaking and important as these first photographs were in the 1840s and 1850s, the daguerreotype was soon surpassed by other cheaper, quicker processes.
In the 1850s, along came the ambrotype (image on glass) and the more common tintype (image on a thin iron plate.) Eventually, the paper negative made all “hard” case images a thing of the past. Peak years for the daguerreotype were 1852 to 1854, and by 1860 and the Civil War, the daguerreotype became obsolete and lost to history.
For more information on early photographic processes, see ‘Collectors Guide to Early Photographs’ by O. Henry Mace.
Local antique shops, including Apple Hill Antiques, have many examples of daguerreotypes for sale. Stop by to learn more and see these lovely items for yourself.
