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The daguerreotype, the
earliest photographic process, was announced in January 1839. It is a medium
relying on a silver-coated copper plate that is sensitized and exposed in
the camera and developed over mercury vapour. The resulting image is formed
at the molecular level and, consequently, is characterized by subtle detail,
clarity of definition, and a gradation of tones that is unlike anything we
see in photography today.
The Palmer Museum acquired
the large daguerreotype portrait of a man named James Duncan in February
1997. Duncan graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1834. Two
years later, he served in the Florida war against the Seminole Indians and
commanded an artillery company during the war with Mexico from 1846 to 1848.
His heroics in the latter conflict caught the attention of army officials,
and Duncan rose rapidly from captain to colonel. In late 1848, President
James Polk appointed Colonel Duncan inspector general of the United States
Army. The daguerreotype in the Palmer collection was made when Duncan came
to New York City in December 1848, shortly before beginning his first
inspection trip. A few months later, while visiting troops in Mobile,
Alabama, he contracted yellow fever and died on July 3, 1849. Duncan's
notoriety as a war hero was so great that even three years after his death
the most fashionable portrait studio in New York City was still exhibiting
his portrait as one of the select "Illustrious Americans."
See larger Image
More information on;
Duncan's Battery, Company A, 2nd US Artillery
Mexican War
Source:
Mathew Brady (American,
c. 1823-1896), Portrait of James Duncan, c. 1848, half-plate daguerreotype,
Collection of the Palmer Museum of Art, Penn State, Photo by Penn State
Image Resource Centre |
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