After the introduction of photography in the 1840s the early Victorians soon recognized the medium’s potential for portraiture. At first only the rich could afford high prices at fashionable city photographic studios. Alongside the professionals, gentleman amateurs worked to master photography’s complicated chemistry and optics. It was the children or other relatives of these first photographers who sat for their early experimental portraits. Below is a collection of 39 rare portrait photos of people taken in the 1840s.
Charlotte Lockhart, later Mrs Hope, grand-daughter of Sir Walter Scott, circa 1846Couple in winter clothes, ca. 1840sDaguerreotype portrait of an unidentified man holding a book with another man moving into frame behind him, ca. 1840sDaguerreotype portrait of Edgar Allan Poe, 1842Portrait of Edgar Allen Poe, taken several months before his death, 1849Fisher Lassie and her child by David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, 1843-1848Fishwife from Newhaven by Hill and Adamson, 1843-1847Girl wearing a white chemisette, holding long watch on chain, 1845Handsome gentleman in the late 1840sJames Fillans with his two daughters by Hill and Adamson, 1845Jane Webster (née Binny); Justine Gallie (née Monro); Mrs Marrable (née Binny) by Hill and Adamson, 1843-1848Lady Eastlake by Hill and Adamson, 1843-1848Lady Elisabeth Theresa Feilding, née Fox Strangways (1773-1846), ca. early 1840sLady Georgina Elizabeth Wharncliffe (née Ryder), John Stuart-Wortley by David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, 1846Matilda Smith (née Rigby) by Hill and Adamson, 1843-1848Miss Elizabeth (Betsy) Etty, daughter of John Etty, by Hill and Adamson, 1844Miss Kemp by David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, 1843-1848Miss Munro by Hill and Adamson, 1843-1848Mother and child in the late 1840sMrs. Jameson by Hill and Adamson, 1843-47Mrs. Rishton (née McCandlish) by David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, 1843-1848Mrs. Shanker by Hill and Adamson, 1843-1847Portrait of a beautiful bride, ca. 1840sPortrait of a gentleman, 1845Portrait of a lady, possibly a domestic servant, in a striped dress, late 1840sPortrait of a lovely couple in the early 1840sPortrait of a woman, 1844Portrait of Elizabeth, Lady Eastlake (17 November 1809 – 2 October 1893) in the early 1840sPortrait of Jane Sophia Barker (née Harden) by David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, 1844Portrait of Miss Dorothy Catherine Draper in 1840Portrait of Mrs. Isabella Morrison Bell by David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, 1843-1848Portrait of old woman in 1848Portrait of two young women by Carl Ferdinand Stelzner, 1849Sophia Finlay by David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, 1843-1848Styling it up in 1842Woman holding a Daguerreotype portrait, ca. late 1840sWoman with two daughters, 1840sYoung lady in dress, 1840sYoung woman in ‘bead print’ dress, 1845
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