Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre
1827
Daguerre

Miniature
Archives of Modern Conflict OR National Gallery of Canada
The earliest likeness of Daguerre was a miniature executed by Millet de Charlieu turned later into a photogravure.
 
It has been repeatedly reported that this image was made in 1827, but either the artist drew him as a younger man or the date is wrong since in July of 1827 Daguerre was already 40 years old, and in this portrait he has the look of a thirty year old man.
 
Though we mostly see images of Daguerre as an old man, in his youth, this portrait presents him as a handsome well poised, self assured young man in his early thirties.
 
It was reported that he could walk on his hands in the manner of a stage acrobat, though in this portrait he is holding what looks like a brush in his hand to convey the message that he is an artist of some importance, which he was.
 
This illustration was included in the lecture "The many faces of Daguerre" presented by Matt Isenburg at the Daguerreian Society Symposium (2009).
 
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