Vignette of a Woman with Veil (possibly the poet and author Lydia H. Sigourney) Quarter-plate daguerreotype (3.25 x 4.25 inches) FromThe David Feigenbaum Collection of Southworth & Hawes. Illustrated in The Daguerreian Annual 1998 (The Daguerreian Society: 1999) page 228. Private Collection.

“What is to be done is obliged to be done quickly. The whole character of the sitter is to be read at first sight; the whole likeness, as it shall appear when finished, is to be seen at first, in each and all its details, and in their unity and combinations.”   Albert S. Southworth, Comments at the National Photographic Association, 1870       “Our plates are the largest, most highly polished, and have a more perfect surface; our pictures have a surpassing delicacy in their finish; there is no sameness in our positions and use of the light, it being adapted to the design of showing every face in its best view. As far as possible we imitate nature in her most beautiful forms, by a mellow blending of lights and shades, an artistic effect of drapery and figure, a pleasant air, a forcible expression, and startling animation; representing thought, action, and feeling or soul.” –From “Artists’ Daguerreotype Rooms, No. 5-1/2 Tremont Row, Boston, Southworth & Hawes” in The Massachusetts Register for the Year 1853, p.326. Courtesy: Gary W. Ewer

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