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[Man Reclining]

R. G. Montgomery American

ca. 1850

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 691

The insouciant subject here may be the daguerreotypist himself, posing in bed for a promotional picture or a private joke. His rumpled suit and haphazard hairstyle affect intimacy, perhaps in an effort to showcase an informal portrait style. Because they required long exposure times, daguerreotypes often captured sitters at their most stilted. With this surprising picture, the maker might have hoped to attract clients who were in search of a more novel or natural likeness.

[Man Reclining], R. G. Montgomery (American, active 1850s), Daguerreotype with applied color — This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

Title: [Man Reclining]

Artist: R. G. Montgomery (American, active 1850s)

Date: ca. 1850

Medium: Daguerreotype with applied color

Dimensions: Image: 3 1/4 × 4 1/4 in. (8.3 × 10.8 cm)
Case (open, approx): 7 3/8 in. x 4 5/8 in.

Classification: Photographs

Credit Line: William L. Schaeffer Collection, Promised Gift of Jennifer and Philip Maritz, in celebration of the Museum's 150th Anniversary

Object Number: L.2019.57.60

The Met

Photographs at The Met

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.