Anonymous American Photographer

whole-plate daguerreotype, sealed, cased, circa 1850-52

This impressive whole-plate daguerreotype presents a detailed and nuanced portrait of Webster. The features of Webster's face, his unkempt hair, and the textures of his clothing (including jacket with velvet collar and brass buttons), are all vividly and expertly rendered. The image itself is quite strong. The haze and small accretions appear to be on the underside of the thick cover glass rather than on the plate itself. Near the upper-left edge of the mat, a very small raised area is visible. This was caused by a tiny protrusion on the case interior. There is characteristic tarnish at the edges of the image, following the oval shape of the mat. When the plate is viewed in raking light, a few small, faint scratches are just visible at the left of the sitter's head. There are blue/green accretions trapped between the brass mat and the glass. While these condition issues are present, they do not undermine the overall power of this superb daguerreian portrait. The irregularly silvered and tarnished reverse of the plate indicates that the daguerreotypist gave the plate a second electroplated application of silver, a known practice of Southworth & Hawes, Whipple, and other American daguerreotypists. The case is detached along its hinge.
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A brilliant orator, and by many contemporary accounts, the foremost litigator of his time, Massachusetts senator, congressman, two-time secretary of state, and presidential hopeful Daniel Webster (1782-1852) was among the most photographed and recognizable men of his day.  Webster’s two-day speech, Second Reply to Hayne (1830), has been lauded as the most important speech in Senate history, and parts of it are still quoted and paraphrased today: ‘I hold it to be a popular government, erected by the people; those who administer it, responsible to the people; and itself capable of being amended and modified, just as the people may choose it should be.’ 

While this whole plate is as yet unattributed, the list of photographers who attempted to capture Webster’s commanding countenance included Edward Anthony, Jesse Whitehurst, John Whipple, and Southworth & Hawes, the last of whom made no fewer than 24 whole plates of Webster.  A plate by Mathew Brady served as the basis for the lithograph by Francis D’Avignon published in Brady’s The Gallery of Illustrious Americans (1850).  A sixth-plate daguerreotype of the present image, possibly a trimmed copy plate, was offered at auction in April 1999.