Portret van een onbekende jonge vrouw 1855 - 1900

O.C. Benjamin, an artist from Newark, New Jersey, made this portrait of an unknown young woman. It’s a remarkable object: a daguerreotype, an early type of photograph made on a silvered copper plate. What's so striking about this image is its directness, an effect of the daguerreotype process itself. Unlike later photographic prints, each daguerreotype is a unique, unrepeatable object. The image is created through a chemical reaction on the plate’s surface. This one has a mirror-like quality, catching the light just so. But it is also very fragile. That’s why it is carefully housed in this ornate case, lined with velvet. In the 19th century, getting your photograph taken was still a special occasion, and these portraits are important historical documents. It’s a poignant reminder of a specific person, caught in a specific moment in time, through a complex interplay of light, chemistry and human skill. The combination of the image, and the care taken to protect it, blurs the boundary between art and craft.