The Boston partnership of Southworth and Hawes produced the finest portrait daguerreotypes in America for a clientele that included leading political, intellectual, and artistic figures. The first photographic process, invented by Louis Daguerre (1787-1851), spread rapidly around the world after its presentation to the public in Paris in 1839. Exposed in a camera obscura and developed in mercury vapors, each highly polished silvered copper plate is a unique photograph that, viewed in proper light, exhibits extraordinary detail and three-dimensionality.
Lola Montez (1818-1861), born in Ireland as Marie Dolores Eliza Rosanna Gilbert, was a strikingly beautiful adventuress and "Spanish" dancer who achieved international notoriety as the mistress of King Louis I of Bavaria.
This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
Open Access
As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes.
API
Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API.
Use your arrow keys to navigate the tabs below, and your tab key to choose an item
Title:Lola Montez
Photography Studio:Southworth and Hawes (American, active 1843–1863)
Artist:Albert Sands Southworth (American, West Fairlee, Vermont 1811–1894 Charlestown, Massachusetts)
Artist: Josiah Johnson Hawes (American, Wayland, Massachusetts 1808–1901 Crawford Notch, New Hampshire)
Date:ca. 1850
Medium:Daguerreotype
Dimensions:21.6 x 16.5 cm (8 1/2 x 6 1/2 in.)
Classification:Photographs
Credit Line:Gift of I. N. Phelps Stokes, Edward S. Hawes, Alice Mary Hawes, and Marion Augusta Hawes, 1937
Object Number:37.14.41
Inscription: Inscribed in pencil, verso: "Lola Montez"
Marking: Hallmark, BL: Doublé / J.P. [cut off] [see Spirit of Fact (Sobieszek and Appel, 1976) #9, p. 153]
Edward S. Hawes, Alice Mary Hawes, and Marion Augusta Hawes, or Edward S. Hawes, Alice Mary Hawes, and Marion Augusta Hawes; [Holman's Print Shop, Boston]; I.N. Phelps Stokes, New York
Subject's real name was Marie Dolores Eliza Rosanna Gilbert.
Biography: Irish-born Eliza Rosanna Gilbert (1818-1861) was known by her stage name, Lola Montez. She achieved international fame as a Spanish dancer and adventuress, traveling across Europe, the United States, and Australia. Among her many lovers were Franz Liszt and Alexandre Dumas; in 1846, Montez became mistress to Louis I of Bavaria, who made her countess of Lansfeld. When the Bavarians revolted, forcing the king to abdicate, she fled to America. Montez sat for Southworth & Hawes in 1851, shortly after her arrival in New York, sailing on the same ship as Louis Kossuth. She performed in dramas, enacting her European adventures in Boston, Philadelphia, New Orleans, and San Francisco. Settling in New York in 1856, she became a lecturer on "Women, Love, and Spiritualism," published several texts including an autobiography, and converted to Christianity.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Daguerreotypes and Photographs (Centenary of the Invention of Photography)," November 4–December 7, 1939.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Thirty Photographers: A Selection from the Museum's Collection," April 12–June 1, 1969.
George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film. "The Spirit of Fact: The Daguerreotype of Southworth & Hawes, 1843–1862," February 1976–June 1976.
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. "The Spirit of Fact: The Daguerreotype of Southworth & Hawes, 1843–1862," July 1976–December 1976.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "The Spirit of Fact: The Daguerreotype of Southworth & Hawes, 1843–1862," January 1977–February 1977.
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "The Art of Photography 1839-1989," February 11, 1989–April 30, 1989.
Canberra. National Gallery of Australia. "The Art of Photography 1839-1989," June 17, 1989–August 27, 1989.
London. Royal Academy of Arts. "The Art of Photography 1839-1989," September 23, 1989–December 23, 1989.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Johnson Gallery, Selections from the Collection 1," December 4, 1992–May 4, 1993.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Johnson Gallery, Selections from the Collection 2," May 4–October 3, 1993.
Smithsonian American Art Museum and Renwick Gallery. "Secrets of the Dark Chamber: The Art of the American Daguerreotype," June 30, 1995–October 29, 1995.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Portraits: A Century of Photographs," September 10, 2002–January 13, 2003.
Stokes, Isaac N. Phelps. The Hawes-Stokes Collection of American Daguerreotypesby Albert Sands Southworth and Josiah Johnson Hawes. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1939. fig. 15.
Rudisill, Richard. Mirror Image: The Influence of the Daguerreotype on American Society. 1st ed. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1971. p. 331.
Moore, Charles LeRoy. "Two Partners in Boston: The Careers and Daguerreian Artistry of Albert Southworth and Josiah Hawes." Master's thesis, University of Michigan, 1975. no. 123.
Newhall, Beaumont. The Daguerreotype in America. 3rd Revised ed. New York: Dover Publications, 1976. no. 54.
Sobieszek, Robert A., and Odette M. Appel. The Spirit of Fact: The Daguerreotypes of Southworth & Hawes, 1843–1862. Rochester: George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film, 1976. no. 27.
Foresta, Merry A., and John Wood. Secrets of the Dark Chamber: The Art of the American Daguerreotype. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian American Art Museum and Renwick Gallery, 1995. p. 191.
Romer, Grant B., and Brian Wallis, ed. Young America: The Daguerreotypes of Southworth & Hawes. New York: George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film, 2005. no. 245.
The Met's Libraries and Research Centers provide unparalleled resources for research and welcome an international community of students and scholars.
The Met Collection API is where all makers, creators, researchers, and dreamers can connect to the most up-to-date data and public domain images for The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.
The Met's Department of Photographs houses a collection of more than 75,000 works spanning the history of photography from its invention in the 1830s to the present.
![[Nancy Southworth Hawes and her son Edward]](/Rodan/dist/svg/no-image-image-related.svg)
