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Portrait of P.J. Buyskes, ca. 1848 - 1860 | Photographer unknown | Private collection
The basis of a daguerreotype is a reflective metal plate. To be more precise, it consists of a wafer-thin coating of silver on or around a copper support. In contrast to photographic paper, which has a paper and synthetic base, a daguerreotype is not flexible and is rather heavy.
standard sizes
The manufacture of plates for the daguerreotype was from early on already a standardised process. Manufacturers employed standard sizes, a practice comparable to today’s paper formats such as A4. One of the most common sizes for European daguerreotypes is 10.8 x 8.1 cm., about the same size as an audio cassette tape.
hallmarks
The silver coating was a process subject to legal requirements. Manufacturers’ used a hallmark to identify their products. These hallmarks are to be found in the corners of many plates as a stamped relief measuring about half a square centimetre. In many cases such a hallmark consists of the manufacturer’s logo and a number indicating the amount of silver. These hallmarks can provide information about the origin of a daguerreotype.
Hallmark of the manufacturer Charles Christofle, 1850
Hallmark with silvercontent, ca. 1848-1860
smooth as glass
The photographer himself usually prepared the daguerreotype plates for use. This also leaves its traces. In order to make the silver surface as smooth as glass, he polished the plate with special instruments. This showed itself in extremely fine polishing lines which always run parallel across the surface. A prepared plate was not allowed to be touched by the hand, but was held in clamps. The use of these is often clearly visible from bent edges or corners. Some clamps perforated the plate itself or left behind a pattern of indentations. These features also provide information about a daguerreotype’s origin.
Polishing lines and bent corners on a portrait of Johannes IV Enschedé (ca. 1848 - 1860) | Photographer unknown | Museum Joh. Enschedé, Haarlem
trimming plates
Some cameras or plate holders required an adapted form. A Viennese model (Voigtländer) used circular plates, so that the daguerreotypist himself had to trim the plates. This explains why some plates have a non-parallel side or lack a hallmark.
grainless
The image in a daguerreotype is in negative. This is because it is not a print, but a unique picture obtained by direct exposure. However, the image can be viewed as a positive when the reflective surface reflects something dark. The details in a daguerreotype can be very clear and sharp. The image itself consists of higher or lower densities of microscopic silver halide particle. Compared to an enlargement of a negative, a daguerreotype looks virtually grainless. Today’s viewer thus experiences it as an image with an exceptionally high resolution.
Portrait of Jozefina Nelsen by floodlight (ca. 1853 - 1865) | Photographer: André F. J. Dupont | Archief en Museum voor het Vlaamse Cultuurleven, Antwerp
Coulored-in portrait of Mrs Van Doesburgh (ca. 1848-1865) | Photographer unknown | Bommelerwaard Regional Archive, Zaltbommel
slight accent
Since a daguerreotype rendered no colours, colour was applied by hand when desired. This was usually done with paint. The applications vary from a slight accent here and there, such as a red blush on someone’s cheek or coloured-in clothing, to more rigorous colourings such as entire atmospheric backgrounds. Jewels in particular were touched up, either with gold paint or by etching into the silver coating to obtain a glittering effect.
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