The first representation of a photographer at work: Jabez Hogg takes the photograph of Mr. Johnson in Richard Beard's studio. The scene depicts Hogg standing on the left, in profile, with a lens cap in his right hand and a watch (on a chain) in his left. He has dark wavy hair, sideburns, and wears a long dark jacket, dark trousers, white shirt and dark cravat. The camera is in front of him on a turned wooden stand. On a footstool (which appears to be beaded) in the foreground is a top hat with the rim uppermost. The carpet is patterned. The sitter on the right is an older man, with receding hair and sideburns. He wears a dark jacket, paler trousers, (what looks like) a decorative patterned waistcoat, white shirt and dark cravat. He is also seen in near profile, his left hand grasping the wooden arm of the chair, his right hand in his lap. The chair has a padded seat . The painted backdrop depicts an alcove lined with a wooden trellis and includes: a stone seat, gothic design, climbing plants with flowers and a bird in an ornate cage. To the left of the alcove is part of an urn and tree, so possibly this is set within a romantic landscape. The bottom of the backdrop has a 'hem', slightly scuffed with use. The brocade curtain behind the sitter is held back with a cord and tassel. To the right of the sitter is a bust of Milton (probably based on a portrait bust attributed to John Cheere). Hogg was one of the earliest British experimenters with the daguerreotype. A woodcut illustration of this image was published in 'A Practical Manual of Photography' in 1843. The same woodcut, in 'The Illustrated London News' on 19th August 1843 page 125, illustrated a satirical poem called 'Lines Written on Seeing a Daguerreotype Portrait of a Lady'. The footnote reads: 'Our engraving represents the photographic process of Mr Beard's establishment, Parliament-Street, Westminster.' In a Wharton case, no further housing.
