Bust-length, daguerreotype portrait of the nineteenth-century Massachusetts educator, George Barrell Emerson (1797-1881). Portrait is in three-quarters profile and is executed in the crayon vignette style, i.e. the outlines of the subject are deliberately softened to bring the head of the sitter into relief. The crayon daguerreotype was patented by Boston daguerreotypist John Adams Whipple in 1849. Whipple actively employed this style in his portraiture work in the early 1850s, hence the circa date of this daguerreotype. Daguerreotype is covered by a plain oval mat with an ornate protector and is housed in a daguerreotype case made of wood that is covered in plain brown leather with a bevelled edge and a push button closure on the right side. On the inside of the case, a burgundy velvet pad with an embossed vase in the center faces the daguerreotype. Stamped on the mat lower left: Whipple. Stamped on the mat lower right: Patent. Purchsed with the W.H.C. Steiner Print Fund in honor of Victoria L.M. Paine and Michael J. Paine and the Katharine Lane Weems Print Fund, February 2004. #2004.5.
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