Getty Museum

[A White Man with His Two Daughters and a Black Nurse]

Creator

American Daguerreotypist · 1809–1882

A sometime calligrapher and writing teacher, Vermont-born Thomas Easterly learned the daguerreotype process in New York between 1841 and 1844, possibly from Charles and Richard Meade. In 1844 Easterly sailed from New York City to New Orleans, where he made photographs before returning to Vermont the following year. He did not remain for long: by October, he had entered into a daguerreotype studio

More on Getty ULAN

Date: about 1850
Medium: Hand-colored daguerreotype
Culture: American
Department: Photographs
Institution: Getty Museum
Object ID: aceabc92-8a80-425c-8929-e0719aebf250

From the Getty Museum record

This somber image is as important for what it leaves out as for what it shows. The conspicuous absence of the man's wife and the children's mother and the inclusion of the elderly mammy suggest the latter's role as caregiver to the family and hence her inclusion in the family portrait. Despite the responsibility of her position, this woman was probably a slave. Her emotional separation from the family is emphasized in the group's body language: the girls lean toward their corpulent father, while the small, old woman sits just beside the small child's chair, her crossed hands in her lap revealing multiple rings that hint at familial connections of her own.

View at Getty Museum ↗

The authoritative record is held by Getty Museum. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.

Get printable QR codes

Open QR codes for this object page and the museum record. They stay collapsed until needed.

Open this page

See at Getty Museum