PLATE: H

DESCRIPTION: Man in a chair, holding pen, sitting in a garden or greenhouse. The image is reversed left to right. The thick, rolled silver-plated copper plate measures about 2 x 2 7/16 inches (5 x 6.2 cm).


Ninth-plate daguerreotype Plate "H"
(Writer's collection.)

WRITTEN ON BACK: "Spencer". The significance of this name is unknown. Possible hypotheses include: Lens maker. Method of plate preparation. Taker of Plate. Subject of Plate. Considering everything, it most likely referred to another subject previously recorded upon the plate. The plate appears reused as was the common practice.

POSSIBLE LENS: This image was probably made with the standard achromatic camera obscura lens as specified in Daguerre's manual, a lens stopped down to a one-inch aperture and focal length of fifteen inches (about f 15). Such a lens might provide good depth of field but would not allow a photographer to get close to his subject.

The lens specified in Daguerre's manual would take exactly plate H style--distant, full-length outdoor photos of people sitting very still. The distance and time required (possibly ten to twenty minutes) allowed only poor resolution of facial detail.

This was the type of lens used by Morse and most other early practitioners who lacked detailed knowledge of optics and lens systems. Other similarly posed images are known, probably taken with an identical lens system--two by Morse of his daughter and friends and one of John McAllister, Jr. of Philadelphia.[113] Possibly the only men in America who were not initially restricted to using a lens of this type were--Wolcott/Johnson, Cornelius/Goddard, and Draper/Goode.

DRAPER QUOTATION: None.
HYPOTHESIS: This plate is possibly a portrait of Dr. John William Draper. It compares favorably with his face and figure as delineated in later photographs. Since it is a distant portrait, not enough visual evidence exists to make a positive identification. Additional support for this supposition comes from the juxtaposition of Draper and the suspected subjects of other images from the plate box in the place and time of history that was New York University in fall 1839.

It is possible that the man who took this photograph was none other than Samuel F. B. Morse. As already explained, Morse's first attempts at portraiture would have been limited to exactly such a lens system. His presence during at least some of the production of these plate box images can be infe/rred from visual evidence in another plate (plate J). It is rational that Morse and Draper could have demonstrated their photographic capabilities for each other during the first few weeks of daguerreian experimentation at New York University.


PLATE: I
DESCRIPTION: Man standing outdoors with eyes closed or squinting from sunlight almost directly overhead. Shape of a distant building (church?) behind subject. The image is reversed left to right. The thick, rolled silver-plated copper plate measures about 2 x 2 7/16 inches (5 x 6.2 cm).


Ninth-plate daguerreotype Plate "I"
(Writer's collection.)

WRITTEN ON BACK: "Milton". The significance of this name is unknown. Possible hypotheses include: Lens maker. Method of plate preparation. Taker of Plate. Subject of Plate (though unlikely because a different subject in plate J also has the same name written on the back). Considering everything, "Milton" may have referred to a different, previously recorded subject. The plate appears reused as was the common practice.
POSSIBLE LENS: This image was possibly taken with the lens John Draper describes second in his sequence of lens experiments to capture a likeness of the human face. Specifically, a lens of four inches aperture, with focal length of fourteen inches (about f 3.5). When used outdoors in bright sunlight, this lens might provide enough depth of field to capture sharp detail in an area as wide as the human figure.

Such a lens however, when making a relatively short exposure in bright sunlight, might not be able to clearly delineate the vast range between bright and shadowed portions of the photograph. Setting a camera with an exposure meter reading brightly lit portions of a scene would have similar result--shadowed portions would not be clearly delineated. Exactly this result is evident in plate I. Draper's article written in spring 1840 about fall 1839 experiments, describes the limitation of such a lens, and appears to exactly match the visual evidence found in this photograph (see quotation below).

DRAPER QUOTATION: (highlights are mine)
[a] lens of four inches . . . in the open air, in a period varying . . . from 20 to 90 seconds. The dress also is admirably given, even if it should be black; the slight differences of illumination are sufficient to . . . show each button, button-hole, and every fold
the intensity of such light . . . cannot be endured without a distortion of the features . . . the rays descend at too great an angle, such pictures have the disadvantage of not exhibiting the eyes with distinctness, the shadow from the eyebrows and forehead encroaching on them . . . and a slight shadow cast from the nose.[114]
HYPOTHESIS: This plate is possibly a portrait of Theodore Frelinghuysen, President of the University of the City of New York. In 1844 Henry Clay and Theodore Frelinghuysen ran for President and Vice President of the United States. The features of the man in plate I compare favorably with Frelinghuysen's face as evinced in later photographs. They share distinctive characteristics, especially around the chin.

Additional support for this supposition comes from the juxtaposition of Frelinghuysen and the suspected subjects of some of the other plate box images at New York University in fall 1839.

As newly appointed chancellor Frelinghuysen would have predictably taken interest in (and been a very logical subject for) fascinating experiments unfolding in the laboratory of his chemistry professor, recently arrived from Virginia. There was plenty of opportunity for visitation in Draper's lab because for two weeks after the 20 September arrival of Daguerre's procedure, students were not in attendance at the university.

Many years later Draper described taking "a very good" portrait of Frelinghuysen.[115] Although he probably referred to a later product of the spring/summer 1840 gallery shared with Morse, there may have been earlier, less successful attempts. Besides the above quotation, Draper recorded little information concerning his "first" experimentation during early fall 1839.


CONTINUE
to Appendix: Plate box image J.


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