Edward Monson
[Family of Seven]

ArtistBritish, 1822–1907
CultureBritish
Titles
  • [Family of Seven]
Datec. 1856
MediumDaguerreotype with applied color
DimensionsOverall: 6 1/2 × 8 7/16 in. (16.5 × 21.5 cm)
Frame: 14 1/2 × 16 1/2 × 1 1/8 in. (36.8 × 41.9 × 2.8 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by Patricia J. Eifel and James Belli, and Joan Morgenstern
Object number2023.252
Not on view

Explore Further

Department
Photography
Object Type
Description




This delicately hand-colored, whole-plate daguerreotype is the work of the British photographer Edward Monson, a land surveyor turned daguerreotypist. Monson’s 1853 advertisement for his services promoted two aspects of his work: first, the quality of his camera, “the largest and most perfect apparatus in use,” and second, “his success in the arrangement and taking of family groups.” Though the identity of the sitters is unknown, their close family ties are evident thanks to Monson’s careful posing, with hands and gestures linking them together.






Provenance[Capes Dunn, Heaton Mersey, England, February 21, 2023, Lot 347]; [purchased by Silver Shadows Gallery Ltd, Huddersfield, England]; purchased by MFAH, 2023.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Label on verso: TO HER MAJESTY'S ROYAL LETTERS PATENT, MR EDWARD MONSON, Daguerreotype Artist and Photographist, Licensed for Essex and part of Suffolk

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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