The images that follow are enlargements and comparisons of two specific areas of Morse's face from the photographs cited above.

The first image shows an area around Morse's left eye.
The second image shows an area around Morse's nose.

In each comparison there are two sets of enlarged photos.
The top two photos are always taken from the known image of Morse in the Library of Congress.
The bottom two photos are from the plate box daguerreotype "J".

In each comparison the right two photographs
(one of a known image of Morse and one of plate "J")
have been highlighted blue or yellow to show specific areas of similarity.
Each photo on the left is identical to its match on the right
but is left unhighlighted for comparison purposes.

EYE AREA

NOSE AREA
These two photographs are taken at a somewhat different angle
and the 1839 daguerreotype is not as sharply focused here as at the left eye area shown above
--yet the large triangular area seems quite distinctive.

There have been no alteration or enhancement to these photos other then the highlighting noted. Scans are from copies of the images.
A much better comparison could be made from the originals.

Please keep in mind that the details of plate box "J"
are extreme enlargements of tiny portions--
of a less than 1" face--
in a small ninth-plate daguerreian image,--
taken INSIDE at the dawn of photography--
with an experimental lens system that allowed only a razor sharp depth of field
which in this image is clearly limited to the area between the subject's nose and ear!

It is quite amazing that this image exists
and contains such detail for viewing and comparison.

The photographs below allow a general comparison between image "J" and five other known views of Morse at different ages. Scroll down the series of comparisons. All images have been corrected to their proper orientation.


On left is detail of plate "J", (reversal of the original daguerreotype is corrected).
On right at top is Samuel Morse detail of an illustration from a daguerreotype, c. 1845-55 (William Maver, Jr., "The Telegraph in the Nineteenth Century", The Electrical Review, [1901], 41.)
Second on the right is Morse, detail from an illustration of a daguerreotype c. 1845-55 (Helmut and Alison Gernsheim, L. J. M. Daguerre--The History of the Diorama and the Daguerreotype [New York: Dover Publications, 1968], facing 132.)
Third on the right is Morse, detail from an illustration of a daguerreotype c. 1845-55 (Harold Francis Pfister, Facing the Light [Washington: National Portrait Gallery, 1978], 25.)
Fourth on the right is Morse, detail from a cabinet card, c. 1860s. (Writer's collection.)
At bottom right is Morse, detail of a photographic copy from the original glass negative. (Brady-Handy Collection, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress.)

. . . and one last view of the distinctive lines around Morse's eye.
This time, enlarged detail of plate "J" is on top and at bottom is enlarged detail from Samuel Morse, photographic copy from the original glass negative. (Brady-Handy Collection, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress.)