Portrait of a Man

c. 1850

John Plumbe Jr.

Associated Names
John Plumbe Jr.

Artist, American, born Wales, 1809 - 1857

The image displays the upper body of a man inside an oval matte and enclosed by a rectangular frame. He stands with his shoulders slightly turned, facing the camera. His facial expression is confident and he has short, textured hair. He is dressed in formal attire, which includes a dark suit jacket, a patterned waistcoat, a white shirt, and a patterned cravat tied around his neck. One of his hands is resting on his hip. The background is a dark, neutral setting that puts the focus on the man without any visible details.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    daguerreotype with applied color

  • Credit Line

    Alfred H. Moses and Fern M. Schad Fund

  • Dimensions

    image (visible): 6.8 × 5.5 cm (2 11/16 × 2 3/16 in.)
    mat: 8.2 × 6.8 cm (3 1/4 × 2 11/16 in.)
    case (closed): 9.2 × 8.1 × 1.6 cm (3 5/8 × 3 3/16 × 5/8 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2017.35.2

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

George Whiteley, Atlanta, GA; NGA purchase, 2017.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

2019

  • The Eye of the Sun: Nineteenth-Century Photographs from the National Gallery of Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2019, unnumbered catalogue.

Inscriptions

on brass mat, bottom right embossed: PLUMBE

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