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Mathew B. Brady
J.C. Calhoun
1850
Engraving, from a daguerreotype
6 x 8 3/4 in.
Archive Farms
The Patrick Montgomery Collection, Object No. 2017.085
LL/112675
This is the most famous photograph of John C. Calhoun (1782-1850), the great American statesman who served as vice president, secretary of state and of war, congressman, and senator from South Carolina. Brady himself surely operated the camera when the legendary political leader came to his studio. He recalled that, “Calhoun’s eye was startling, and almost hypnotized me.” The Photographic Art-Journal praised the image’s “depth and earnestness, and intensity, and spiritualism, which so eminently distinguish [Calhoun] from almost all other men.” The original 1849 Brady whole plate daguerreotype that this image was based on was sold at a Sotheby's auction in 2011 for $338,500.
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