Open AccessDaguerreotypes by Hartley Webster
Author(s) -
Shaun Higgins
Publication year - 2016
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2703-1713
DOI - 10.24135/backstory.vi1.11
Subject(s) - portrait , desk , art history , identification (biology) , special collections , visual arts , history , art , genealogy , library science , computer science , botany , biology , operating system
Known works by early New Zealand daguerreotypists are rare, being both scarce in number and difficult to identify. A reference in a journal entry by Rev. Charles Baker reported the creation of a “portrait in a machine” by Hartley Webster in 1852. Auckland Museum staff asked Baker family descendants about the existence of a daguerreotype matching the entry. This led to the discovery of two daguerreotypes inside a writing desk, one of which was labelled 1852. The pair were taken during a visit by Hartley Webster to the Bay of Islands and provide confirmed examples of his early work. This, in turn, has enabled the identification of further Webster works in the Auckland War Memorial Museum pictorial collection.