Copy of a Bust of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, by Joseph Durham, Esq. F.S.A. 1857

Editor: Here we have "Copy of a Bust of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, by Joseph Durham, Esq. F.S.A.," made in 1857 by Hugh Welch Diamond. It's a daguerreotype of a sculpture – a photograph of a photograph, in a way. It feels surprisingly…staged? Almost theatrical. What's your read on this curious image? Curator: Staged, absolutely. It’s a triple-layered artifice, isn't it? A sculpture *of* Victoria, *reproduced* in a photograph, itself intended as an artistic statement. Diamond, bless his heart, clearly saw photography as more than just documentation, he was creating a mood, almost mythologizing the Queen. That quote underneath adds a flourish, wouldn't you agree? Something along the lines of "Who would dare call the sun a liar?" Editor: Right, implying the photo *is* the truth. And Diamond wasn't even a professional photographer, right? Curator: More of a doctor, actually, who used photography to document and even try to heal his patients. Perhaps he felt he was, in a way, capturing the "truth" of Victoria too. Though that crown seems a bit on the nose, no? Editor: Definitely. It's heavy-handed. I guess they wanted to be crystal clear who it was! Maybe that’s why it feels less like a portrait of Victoria and more like a statement *about* power, or the image of power. Curator: Precisely! It's not about the person, but about the ideal she represents, seen through layers of artistic and technological mediation. What a bizarre, and wonderfully insightful creation. Editor: Well, I'll definitely look at daguerreotypes differently from now on! Thanks for opening my eyes!