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[Portrait of a Young Man]

1840
Not on view
Samuel F. B. Morse met Louis Daguerre, the French inventor of photography, in Paris in the spring of 1839. Morse was the first American to see a daguerreotype and among the earliest artists in the United States to experiment with the new medium. This simple portrait of an unknown sitter, who clearly strains to keep his eyes open during the long, twenty-to-thirty minute exposure, is the only extant daguerreotype by Morse and one of the earliest photographs made in America. The strength of the portrait is in the young man's rapt expression, which seems to reflect a subtle awareness of his participation in a grand endeavor. The mindful sitter is one of the first in photography to return the gaze of the viewer.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: [Portrait of a Young Man]
  • Artist: Samuel F. B. Morse (American, Charlestown, Massachusetts 1791–1872 New York)
  • Date: 1840
  • Medium: Daguerreotype
  • Dimensions: Image: 5 x 4.2 cm (1 15/16 x 1 5/8 in.), oval
  • Classification: Photographs
  • Credit Line: Gilman Collection, Gift of The Howard Gilman Foundation, 2005
  • Object Number: 2005.100.75
  • Curatorial Department: Photographs

More Artwork

More Artwork
De Witt Clinton, Samuel F. B. Morse American, Oil on canvas, American
De Witt Clinton
Samuel F. B. Morse
1826
Powder Horn, Horn (cow), lead, American
Powder Horn
American
18th century
[Landscape], Marie-Charles-Isidore Choiselat French, Daguerreotype
[Landscape]
Marie-Charles-Isidore Choiselat
Stanislas Ratel
1844
Head of a Man (from McGuire Scrapbook), Samuel F. B. Morse American, Pen and iron-gall ink on off-white wove paper, American
Head of a Man (from McGuire Scrapbook)
Samuel F. B. Morse
1840
Man and Two Women (Henderson Ledger Artist B), Frank Henderson Native American, Pencil, colored pencil, and ink on paper, Arapaho
Man and Two Women (Henderson Ledger Artist B)
Frank Henderson
ca. 1882

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