Artist Index: Daguerreotypes

Reclining semi-nude woman. 1850s. Stereo daguerreotype, hand-tinted. Each image circa 6,5 x 5,5 cm. Sealed behind glass (paper sealing worn).


Some oxidation in edges, otherwise in good condition with delicate coloring.

Photographer: L. Herzog, Bremen, J. Chemin, Paris and unknown. Portraits. 1850s - 1860s. 4 daguerreotypes (3 quarter plates and 1 sixth plate), with paper and gilt glass surrounds, each mounted under glass and in various frames and 1 album with miniature ambrotypes.

Some oxidation in edges, a few small spots, one unopened, the others resealed but not treated and in good condition.

Photographer unknown. Portrait of Ferdinand zu Stolberg Werningerode (1775 - 1854). Circa1850. Sixth plate daguerreotype, with paper surround, mounted under glass, in original frame annotated in ink on the verso.

Oxidation in edges, resealed but untreated and in very good condition.

Photographer: Bernd Renard (attributed to). Skeleton. 1980s. Modern half-plate daguerreotype, with paper surround, mounted under glass.

A strong image in very good condition.

Photographer: Woldemar de Renard (1817 - 1900). Portraits. 1850s. 2 daguerreotypes (quarter plates), with gilt paper surrounds, mounted under glass, each with photographre's label on verso.

The labels on these two daguerreotypes bear the name W(oldemar) de Renard. Renard used this name after he travelled to Bergen (Norway), circa 1853 to earn his money as a daguerreotypist and photographer. From 1855 he lived in Göteborg and a little later in Helsingborg and then again, in 1856 coming from Kiel, he returned to Göteborg. In 1860 he ran a photo studio in Hamburg and later moved to Stockholm, where he worked as a photographer until his death. Waldemar's brother was the painter and sculptor Gregorius Renard (1814-1841), who had been running a studio as a daguerreotypist since 1843.
– Oxidation in edges, resealed but untreated and in very good condition.

Photographer: C.F. Rochow (active in Hamburg, 1840s). Individual portraits of a man and woman, most likely husband and wife. Circa 1845. 2 daguerreotypes (sixth-plates), with paper mats, each taped behind glass and with photographer's paper studio label on the verso, in contemporary gilt frames (some wear).

Some oxidation in edges, a few spots on plates, otherwise in good condition.

Photographer: Johann Eberhard Feilner (1802 - 1869). Portrait of a young man with unusual hairstyle. Circa 1848. Daguerreotype (sixth-plate), with ornate black mat with gilt ornamentation, taped behind glass and in modern frame.

Johann Eberhard Feilner was a lithographer in Cologne until he followed his brother Franz to Bremen who had a printing press there since 1825. Here he married and established himself as of 1832 as a portrait painter and drawing teacher. As of 1844 he founded a studio for daguerreotypes in 1844 and in 1845 already advertised exceptionally large daguerreotypes.
For almost two decades Feilner remained the most renowned photographer of the region who was also the first to establish himself permanently in Bremen. After his death in 1869 his son Jean Baptiste Feilner continued the business, establishing branches in Braunschweig, Emden, Oldenburg, Borkum, Bonn, Koblenz, Hannover and Vienna. The Bremen studio continued until 1894. – Minimal oxidation in edges, a few spots on plate, otherwise in very good condition.

Photographer: Johann Jacob Burbach (active in Cologne since 1846). Individual portraits of a man and woman, most likely husband and wife. Circa 1850. 2 daguerreotypes (sixth-plates), with black enamellled surrounds with gilt frame line, each taped behind glass and with photographer's paper studio label on the verso.

Along with Haussmann and Hertting, J.J. Burbach was one of the first professional daguerreotypists in Cologne. In 1846 he opened a "Daguerreotyp-Utensilien-Handlung" and in 1848 he founded his own daguerreotype studio. – Some oxidation in edges, a few spots on plates, otherwise in good condition.

Lit.: Werner Neite. "Die Photographie in Köln 1839 - 1870" in: Jahrbuch des Kölnischen Geschichtsvereins, vol. 46, 1975, see p. 111.
Ludwig Hoerner, "Die Einführung der Photographie in den Metropolen und in der Provinz (1839-1860), in: Bodo von Dewitz/Reinhard Matz (eds.). Silber und Salz. Zur Frühzeit der Photographie im deutschen Sprachraum 1839 -1860, Agfa Foto-Historama, Cologne, 1989, p. 100.

Photographer: Johann Eberhard Feilner (1802 - 1869). Golden wedding anniversary of the Magnus family, Bremen. Circa 1845. 2 half-plate daguerreotypes (each circa11 x 14 cm). Each in paper surrround taped behind glass in contemporary ornamental gilt wooden frames (some chips, missing pieces).

Johann Eberhard Feilner was a lithographer in Cologne until he followed his brother Franz to Bremen who had a printing press there since 1825. Here he married and established himself as of 1832 as a portrait painter and drawing teacher. As of 1844 he founded a studio for daguerreotypes in 1844 and in 1845 already advertised exceptionally large daguerreotypes.
For almost two decades Feilner remained the most renowned photographer of the region who was also the first to establish himself permanently in Bremen. After his death in 1869 his son Jean Baptiste Feilner continued the business, establishing branches in Braunschweig, Emden, Oldenburg, Borkum, Bonn, Koblenz, Hannover and Vienna. The Bremen studio continued until 1894.
The present two daguerreotypes, which actually comprise a diptych, are one of three known identical group portraits two of which are in the National Museum of Photography, Denmark and the Museum Ludwig, Cologne. The occasion of this group portrait is typed on a label on the verso of the daguerreotypes in the Museum Ludwig and in Denmark. It shows the Golden wedding anniversary of the Magnus family of Bremen (circa 1845). The entire family is most likely depicted on the two half-plates. Such a large format daguerreotype showing so many individuals is very rare for images made in German speaking countries at this time. The three known diptychs mentioned above all show the identical image from the same sitting. However, the Cologne daguerreotype is a reverse image of the two offered here as well as the diptych in Denmark. Such reversed images are not uncommon of larger group portraits. With some skill, good lighting and using a mirror it was quite easy to reproduce a daguerreotype. Thanks to this procedure, the photographer was able to eliminate two disadvantages of the daguerreotype. He created a correct image (not inverted as an original daguerreotype was) and a copy for other interested clients, which only became possible just a short time later with the positive-negative process developed by Talbot or Scott Archer.

Literatur: Rainer Wick (ed.) Die Pioniere der Photographie. 1840 - 1900. Die Sammlung Robert Lebeck. Erlangen 1989, ill. p. 33 (original daguerreotypes mounted as a panoramic view).