[Young Man With a Black Eye]

CultureUnknown
Titles
  • [Young Man With a Black Eye]
Date1840s
MediumDaguerreotype with applied color
DimensionsImage: 2 5/8 × 2 3/16 in. (6.7 × 5.6 cm)
Open (case): 3 5/8 × 6 7/16 × 3/16 in. (9.2 × 16.4 × 0.5 cm)
Closed (case): 3 5/8 × 3 1/4 × 1/2 in. (9.2 × 8.3 × 1.3 cm)
Credit LineGift of Charles Schwartz
Object number2018.92
Not on view

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Department
Photography
Object Type
Description

Daguerreotypes are one-of-a-kind images on highly polished, silver-plated sheets of copper, sensitized with iodine, exposed in a camera, and developed in mercury fumes. The first publically announced form of photography, daguerreotypes made portraiture available to the masses. This photograph is a modest sixth-plate daguerreotype with hand coloring that at first glance appears common, until one takes note of the sitter’s black eye. Given the relative affordability of sixth-plate daguerreotypes at the time, it is possible the portrait was taken specifically to commemorate this shiner.


ProvenanceCharles Schwartz; given to MFAH, 2018.

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