Artwork Information

Louis Daguerre pioneered the daguerreotype method of making pictures, which is one of the earliest types of photography, popular throughout the 1840s and 1850s. It is essentially an image on a highly polished metal surface that must be held at a particular angle to view the picture.

The sitter’s hair is looped down over her ears in the style of the period and her dress is elaborate, indeed, every detail is a clear indication of upper-class status. (Chic Colonials: Ataahua, 2003)