Austin Cole
c. 1850
A mid-19th-century daguerreotype portrait of a young man, carefully posed and captured to preserve a lifelike likeness for remembrance.
Set in a gold mat inside a small red silk–lined leather case, the oval plate shows a crisp side profile with luminous highlights on the face and a softly textured background that makes the sitter feel intimately present.
As a one-of-a-kind daguerreotype, it exemplifies early photographic technology that transformed portraiture by making personal likenesses more widely available and intensely immediate.
Medium
Daguerreotype
Dimensions
2 3/4 × 2 3/8" (7 × 6 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of A. Conger Goodyear
Accession
595.1953
Palette
Exhibitions
