Francis D'Avignon (artist, 29 Oct 1813 - c. 1871) / Albert Hoffman (artist, active 1849-1854)
1849
Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre

Lithograph on paper
21.4 x 22.5 cm (8 7/16 x 8 7/8 ins) (image)
 
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Gift of the Old Print Gallery, Object number: S/NPG.77.130
 
Exhibition label (Accessed: 15 February 2018)
In July 1849, the Albany Morning Express reported the publication of a lithographic portrait of Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre "executed by Messrs. D'Avignon and Hoffman, N.Y. from a daguerreotype picture taken from life of this great artist at his chateau [in] Brie [sic] Sur Marne, France, by the Meade Brothers of Albany, N.Y., one of whom visited Europe last year on a professional tour." The brothers were obviously pleased with this lithograph, for when Daguerre died in July 1851, their condolence message to his widow included an offer to send her one of the prints. Thanking the brothers for their "kind and sympathizing letter," Madame Daguerre replied that she did not possess the lithograph, adding, "It would indeed be a great treasure to me to have one." The print was sent, and when Henry Meade visited Madame Daguerre in 1853, he was pleased to see it on her wall.
 
LL/80228