Although the sitter in the portrait is currently unidentified the museum recognises the importance of maintaining its collection of daguerreotypes as examples of the fashion and early photographic processes from the period. In the case of this photograph we are unable to categorically state where it was taken but it bears some resemblance to similar photographs taken in America. The unusual frame, the lighting, and the attire of the sitters also suggest it may have been taken in the 1840s but we have not yet been able to provide a more precise date to this photograph.

This photograph is significant because it is one of the few surviving daguerreotypes which may have links to Australia. While millions of daguerreotypes were produced around the world and many thousands in Australia remarkably few have survived that can be linked to Australian society during the 1850s and 1860s. The first daguerreotype was taken in Australia in 1841 and its first professional photographer George Baron Goodman arrived in 1842. However very few photographs from the 1840s have survived and most extant examples were taken between 1850 and 1865 or are come from overseas.

In 1839, the first photographic process, the daguerreotype, was unveiled by the Frenchmen Louis Daguerre who had invented it with the assistance of Joseph Niépce. Daguerreotypes became an overnight sensation and were immensely popular even though they were expensive and could only produce one unique positive print.

Daguerre died in 1851 and in this same year a new photographic process on glass, the ambrotype was introduced. Ambrotypes were both cheaper, and could be viewed more easily than the silver surface of the daguerreotype, and eventually replaced the earlier process in popularity. Although still in demand from conservative customers, and those who appreciated their high level of the detail, daguerreotype had essentially disappeared by the early 1860s.

Geoff Barker, Curatorial, September 2009

References
Alan Davies and Peter Stanbury with assistance from Con Tanre, The Mechanical Eye in Australia, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1985
The Grolier Society, The Australian Encyclopaedia, Third Edition, Grolier Society, 1977
Helmut and Alison Gernsheim, A Concise History of Photography, Thames and Hudson, Germany, 1965
Naomi Rosenblum, World History of Photography, Abbeville Press, New York, 1984

The daguerreotype was a remarkably complex process. To make a daguerreotype you firstly had to clean a piece of silver plate to a mirror finish using a slurry made from pumice in oil, then give it a number of washings in nitric acid and water to remove the oil residue. Secondly the prepared plate had to be sensitised by exposing it to iodine vapour. Then the sensitised plate was placed in a camera and exposed to light, the exposure time varied according to the time of the day, the season of the year and the weather, and could be from three to thirty minutes. The silver plate was then exposed over heated mercury vapour until an image appeared and lastly it was fixed by placing the plate in a hot solution of common salt or a solution of sodium thiosulfate.

Keeping a supply of the correct chemicals, making sure the plates and workspace were kept free of dust and ensuring there was a supply of clean water all conspired to limit the practicality of travelling with a camera. This coupled with the lengthy exposure times, which were a result of deficiencies of these early photographic emulsions and the quality of the camera's lens, made the whole process complicated and unwieldy.

Geoff Barker, Curatorial, September 2009

References
Janet Burger, French Daguerreotypes, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1989
Helmut and Alison Gernsheim, A Concise History of Photography, Thames and Hudson, Germany, 1965
Rudolf, Kingslake, A History of the Photographic Lens, Academic Press Limited, San Diego, California, 1989
Naomi Rosenblum, World History of Photography, Abbeville Press, New York, 1984

Photographic positive, daguerreotype, studio portrait of unidentified man and woman, silver / copper / glass / leather / wood, photographer unknown, Australia, 1845-1855

A daguerreotype showing a portrait of a man and woman photographed in a studio setting. The man is seated and wears a three piece suit, while the woman stands with her right arm resting on the shoulder of the seated man. She wears a dark coloured dress with a full skirt, lace collar and cuffs. Her hair is in ringlets. The daguerreotype sits in a cardboard mount with a glass face. The glass has been painted white and gold to form a frame around the image. Blue paper covers the back of the portrait. The mount, portrait and face have been bound together around the edge with leather-look brown paper. A metal ring on the centre back allows the portrait to be hung for display. The daguerrotype is stored in custom-made enclosure with a support.

Made: Australia; 1845 - 1855

H7930

1845 - 1855

130 mm

7 mm