Cleveland Museum of Art

Mother and Child

Date: c. 1860–65
Medium: daguerreotype, applied color, sixth-plate
Culture: America
Department: Photography
Institution: Cleveland Museum of Art
Object ID: 162297

From the Cleveland Museum of Art record

Some of the most inventive and technically skilled practitioners in the early history of photography are as yet unidentified. However, with time more of these individuals will probably be recognized by name. Introduced into America soon after its invention in 1839 by the Frenchman Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre, the daguerreotype flourished from 1840 to the mid-1860s. This beautiful daguerreotype in its original case is an outstanding example of a very popular subject: mother and child. The polished silver plate precisely renders in warm tones the likeness of the elaborately dressed sitters. The mother gently steadied the child's head so that it would not move during the long exposure required by the daguerreotype process. Clearly, the maker's knowledge of chemistry and traditional principles of design were necessary for this charming portrait.

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Provenance & credit

As published by the source institution. Coverage varies — not every institution's open-data feed includes ownership history.

Credit line: John L. Severance Fund
Provenance: (Charles Isaacs Photographs, Inc., New York, NY) | June 3, 2002: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH