Object Image

[Albert Sands Southworth]

Fascinated by François Gouraud's demonstrations in Boston of Daguerre's new invention Albert Southworth, a pharmacist in Cabotville (now Chicopee), Massachusetts, went to New York in 1840 to study the technique with Samuel Morse. Within a year he had opened a daguerreotype studio in Boston with Morse's assistant, Joseph Pennell, who had been Southworth's roommate in preparatory school. When Pennell left the firm in 1843, Josiah Johnson Hawes took his place, and the celebrated nineteen-year partnership of Southworth and Hawes was born. The firm was known around the world for its aesthetic accomplishments and technical finesse.

The artistic ambitions of Southworth and Hawes are clearly demonstra...

c. 1845-50
Daguerreotype
11.1 x 9.2in
2005.100.79
Image and text © Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2019

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The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Permanent collection