Anonymous American Photographer

sixth-plate daguerreotype, sealed, cased, 1840s

Stanley B. Burns, Mirror Mirror: The Burns Collection Daguerreotypes (New York: The Burns Archive Press, 2012), pl. 84

Stanley B. Burns, Forgotten Marriage: The Painted Tintype & The Decorative Frame, 1860-1910: A Lost Chapter in American Portraiture (New York: The Burns Press, 1995), p. 9

This sixth-plate presents an excellent occupational study of a well-dressed sitter with an artist's palette, painting knife, and paint brushes. The sitter's shirt and collar appear slightly solarized. There is a pin-point-sized rust-colored spot in the center portion of the image, on the sitter's shirt. Upon very close examination, there is an uneven faint milkiness in the lower left corner. There is minor tarnish at the edges of the mat. There are two tiny scratches extending from the right edge. There are scattered tiny black accretions on the textured mat. The brown leather case, with a floral motif in landscape format on the cover, is scuffed overall, particularly on the reverse. The bottom of the case is splitting at the joints on the right.
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