THE DAGUERREIAN SOCIETY NEWSLETTER

the chair, while in Fig. 6 the bottom of his
arm is behind it. In the former portrait, more
of Daguerre’s right hand is visible and his
�ngers surround a clump of his hair; in Fig.
6, his �ngers are almost completely hidden
from view. �ere is also a more elongated
space between Daguerre’s bent upper and
lower right arm and hand in Fig. 5. �e
triangle of chair upholstery seen in the two
images is larger in Fig. 5. Some might feel
that Daguerre is not only steadying his head
in Fig. 5 but is also pushing it forward a bit
awkwardly. He appears better positioned
and more relaxed in Fig. 6.
I �rst made the exciting discovery of
another Meade Daguerre portrait, Fig. 6,
while examining a �le of photocopies relating
to Daguerre at the Richard and Ronay
Menschel Library at the George Eastman
House in 2000. I was attending a week-long
Historic Processes Workshop at the time and
eminent authority Grant Romer told me of
the �le’s existence. Looking through it, I
immediately recognized one portrait in it
to be a copy of a Meade original that I had
never seen before. Outside its characteristic
oval, the photocopy has a signature (with the
�rst three names abbreviated) identifying
Gaspard-Félix Tournachon Nadar as
the copier of another, original Meade
daguerreotype. I showed a
slide of it in my 2001 lecture. It
turned out that Fig. 6 had also
appeared in �e New York Times
Magazine in August 1964 in “To
Force the Sun to Paint Pictures.”
�e article’s illustrations were
supposed to be by Daguerre,
but obviously this one wasn’t.
The source was said to be a
�érèse Bonney Archive, George
Eastman House. 6 Inquiries made
to the Eastman House, directed
to archivist Joseph R. Struble,
elicited the information that
Eastman House does not have
this picture nor is its current
location known. Some other
institutions were contacted
because they have M. �érèse
Bonney holdings, but they did
not have it either. To advance
scholarship, the author would
very much like to locate the
original or a photographic
copy of this Meade portrait and
will gratefully acknowledge
any information or assistance
received.
In 1964, when Fig. 6 was
published and said to
Article
Fig. 7. Meade, Charles R. Meade Brothers Studio. Louis-
Jacques-Mandé Daguerre, 1787–1851. Print Collection
Portrait File./D/Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre n.d. Print.
Digital ID: 1219821 (Artist: Francis D’Avignon, Lithograph
of 1848 Meade daguerreotype, circa 1849) Print Collection,
Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and
Photographs, �e New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox
and Tilden Foundations.
be at the George Eastman House, Beaumont Newhall was there and would
certainly have known of its existence. It is, therefore, hard to understand why
he would not have included it in his 1979 article, and thereby have had to
change its title from “Seven Portraits of Daguerre” to “Eight. . . .” It is, without
question, another of what I have described as Charles R. Meade’s “white-tie”
series of Daguerre portraits. 7
Another such portrait is known only from a famous lithograph executed
by Francis D’Avignon of New York. In Paris, French artist Paul Carpentier
copied and reversed its image of Daguerre in a famous painting and also used
it as the basis for a bust of the inventor. A copy of this lithograph is at the
National Portrait Gallery, S/NPG.77.130. Its image of Daguerre is seen here
in Fig. 7 within a decorative oval in a lesser-known version at the New York
Public Library. It may be seen on the NYPL’s Digital Gallery Web site. �e
pose in Fig. 7 is somewhat similar to those in Figs. 1 and 2.
A New York Tribune article highlighted the role of the inventor’s niece by
marriage, Georgina Arrowsmith, in persuading Daguerre to pose for Charles
when he visited. “�e girl told him not to be discouraged, that she would
try the arts of persuasion on her good-natured old uncle, and that she hoped
Fig. 8. Meade, Charles R. Meade Brothers Studio. Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre,
1787–1851. Half-plate, hand-colored daguerreotype 1848, Image: 6 5/16” X 4 13/16 “
(16.0 x 12.0 cm) �e J. Paul Getty Museum 84.XT.953.
The Daguerreian Society Newsletter
"!January - March 2010 9