Untitled [bust portrait of a gentleman] c. 1844 - 1852

Jeremiah Gurney’s *Untitled [bust portrait of a gentleman]* (c. 1844-1852) is a daguerreotype, a photographic process that captures an image on a silver-plated copper plate. The subject, a man dressed in formal attire, is depicted in an oval frame within a gold-colored mount. This small-scale portrait, characteristic of the daguerreotype format, exemplifies the burgeoning photographic art of the mid-19th century. Gurney, a prominent daguerreotypist, utilized the medium to capture individual likeness with a degree of precision and detail that revolutionized portraiture.