Artist Index: Daguerreotype

Photographer: Carl Ferdinand Stelzner (1805-1894). Studio portrait of a mother with her eight children, Hamburg. Circa 1848. Quarter-plate, gold-toned daguerreotype (image size circa 7 x 6 cm, plate size circa 11 x 8 cm). With original ruled paper surround, taped behind glass, photographer's yellow paper label on verso (traces of use).

Minimal oxidation in edges, two oxidation spots on plate, otherwise a clear strong image in very good condition.

Lit.: Bodo von Dewitz/Reinhard Matz (eds.) Silber und Salz. Zur Frühzeit der Photographie im deutschen Sprachraum 1839-1860, exhibition catalog Agfa Foto-Historama Cologne/Heidelberg 1989.

Photographer: Samuel Heer (1811-1889). Portrait of "Rodolphe de Taub at the age of 20". 1855. Sixth-plate daguerreotype, in original glass cover with gilt paper mat, paper taped, original paper backing with photographer’s logo and name, in original slipcase with stand prop.

Samuel Heer was a Swiss tinsmith turned photographer who played a pioneering role in the development of daguerreotypes in Switzerland during the 19th century. – A few spots on plate, otherwise in good condition.