MOUNTED SILVER GELATIN PHOTOGRAPH Of DICKENS After an Daguerreotype by Antoine Claudet.
(n. p.): (n. d.). Ca mid-1880s. Verso blank. Image: 3-7/8" x 3". Mount: 12" x 10". Mount with penciled note in lower right corner: "From daguerreotype by Henri Claudet 1852" [obviously in error, as it was Antoine Claudet who was the photographer]. Now housed in a clear archival mylar sleeve. Photograph with silver prominent, overall, VG+. Mount shows modest edgewear [and lacking lower left corner], modest soiling & age-toning, overall, Very Good. Item #52254
HIstorians "now seem to agree that this portrait was taken at Claudet's Adelaide Gallery, 18 King William Street, West Strand, London, around 1850. Antoine Claudet (1797-1867) established his daguerreotype portrait gallery in the Lowther Arcade, Strand, Westminster in June 1841, just a few months after Richard Beard had opened for business at The Royal Polytechnic Institution, Regent Street, London, England's first ever photographic portrait studio. Richard Beard, who believed he had exclusive rights to the daguerreotype process in England, took legal action against Claudet to prevent him taking daguerreotype portraits in England. The court initially ruled in Beard's favour, but Claudet's appeal was successful.
Antoine Claudet operated a daguerreotype portrait gallery at 18 King William Street, London, until June 1851. (For over 3 years Claudet also managed a daguerreotype portrait studio on the First Floor of the Colosseum in Regent's Park, London). On 16th June 1851, Claudet opened a new set of Daguerreotype Portrait Rooms at 107 Regent Street, London. Claudet operated as a portrait photographer at his Regent Street premises until his death in December 1867." [photohistory-sussex website].
A view of this image, with further explanatory text, may be seen at the photohistory-sussex website, in their section on Dickens photographs.
NB. Antoine Claudet is mentioned by name in an article entitled 'Photography', published in Charles Dickens' Household Words" in 1853.
Today, the original daguerreotype will be found in the collections of the Library Company of Philadelphia.
Price: $375.00