DRAPER'S FOURTH PORTRAIT LENS AND PLATE BOX IMAGE "L"



Plate "L"
[Fig. 22 credits]
 Plate L captured a man sitting indoors. His eyes were open and clearly delineated with the same bright spot of (mirror) reflected light in the corneas. There was no squint to his expression and the lens system projected adequate depth of field for a portrait. A few dark spots mar the image which is reversed left to right.

In plate L, the subject's hands are folded in front with elbows resting upon a shiny, rounded chair arm. There are distinctive aspects of the gallery setting visible in the image--a rounded object (chair rail?) behind the sitter and what appears to be the edge of a window sill. The subject looks out a window or opening.

Plate L may represent an example of the finished portrait technique John William Draper developed for his spring 1840 gallery operation. Details of plate L fit Draper's description of his work in this gallery, as does the Doctor's famous portrait of his sister Dorothy Catherine Draper. Both images have aspects in common. The arrangement of folded hands held in front of the body is similar [A in photos below]. Elbows in both images appear to rest upon a shiny, rounded chair arm [B in photos below]. The distinctively rounded object and window sill could represent aspects of the gallery setting also visible in the Dorothy Catherine image [C in photos below].



On left, plate "L" (reversal of the original daguerreotype is corrected),
and on right, the Dorothy Catherine Draper daguerreotype (c. 1840) in an 1893 Artotype copy.
[Fig. 23 credits]

Further evidence that both images may represent standardized products of Morse's and Draper's gallery comes from visual evidence within a portrait in the Draper collection at the Smithsonian Institution.[96] This outdoor image was probably taken with a completely different lens system from either plate L or the Dorothy Catherine daguerreotype; nevertheless, strong similarities of technique are visible. Clasped hands are held away from the body [A in photos below] ("the hands should never rest upon the chest, for the motion of respiration disturbs them").[97] Fully visible in the Smithsonian image may be the same chair or style of chair used to prop elbows in both Plate L and the Dorothy Catherine photograph [B in photos below].



On left, plate "L", (reversal of the original daguerreotype is corrected),
in middle, the Dorothy Catherine Draper daguerreotype (c. 1840) in an 1893 Artotype copy,
and on right, detail of the quarter-plate portrait daguerreotype in the Draper collection.
[Fig. 24 credits]

Extant images in other collections may come to light to further substantiate the elements characterized a standardized product from Morse and Draper's spring 1840 gallery. The subject depicted in plate L is currently unidentified. Since the image was the only one encased, it may depict the "collector" of the plate-box images.[98*]


CONTINUE to
13. Subsequent work of Draper and Morse


BACK to
11. Draper's fourth portrait lens and plate box image "K"


SITE MAP