Beschreibung:

BRADY, MATHEW B.] Full-plate daguerreotype portrait of Senator Daniel Webster, head-and-shoulders, facing slightly to his right , taken by Mathew B. Brady (or his studio). Original felt-lined case, overall interior case dimension 8 1/2 x 6 1/2 inches (215 x 165 mm), the case of leather with brass hook-and-eye clasps, the portrait with an oval gold mat with inner dimensions 7 1/4 x 5 1/4 inches (185 x 135 mm), glazed. The case starting to separate at the spine, silvering to the edges of the daguerreotype, some depositions to the surface of the glass, a small raised area to the margin of the plate to the left of Webster's head. Over twenty daguerreotypes or daguerreotype-derived portraits of Webster are povided in Harold Francis Pfister, Facing the Light: Historic American Portrait Daguerreotypes (Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1978). Brady had his first session with Webster in 1848. The present portrait closely relates to an image (a wet collodion negative) in the Brady-Handy collection at the Library of Congress (see call number LC-BH82-4506 A), and based on the similarity of clothing and demeanor, the present example is a second plate taken at the same sitting. Webster's face is facing slightly down in comparison to that plate, giving him a more pensive appearance. Daniel Webster, 1782-1852, was one of the foremost American statesmen of the period, and as a Senator worked to preserve the Union and avoid civil war. He was Secretary of State twice in his career, between 1841-43 and 1850-52. He has been named (by a Senate committee in 1957) as one of the five greatest U.S. senators. This is an extraordinary and (by the nature of the process) unique image of a great American. C