Self-Portrait

ROBERT CORNELIUS,

SELF-PORTRAIT

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ROBERT CORNELIUS

Genre: Portrait

Date: 1839

Location: Philadelphia, USA

Format: Daguerreotype

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“The image is a photographic equivalent of an archeological finding. Robert Cornelius (1809-93) was an American of Dutch descent. In 1831 he began to work for his father, specializing in silver plating and metal polishing. He became so well renowned for his work that shortly after he was asked to create silver plates for daguerreotypes.

Cornelius, developing an interest in photography himself, working on perfecting the notoriously time-consuming and unreliable process. Sometime in 1839 he made this self-portrait; it is the oldest known existing portrait of a human in America, and may well be considered an archetype of today’s selfie. He stares back at us across than 170 years, yet his gaze is as compelling as the moment he faced the camera.

Photography was embraced as a replacement for painted portraits, quickly becoming fashionable among the wealthy. Cornelius went on to open two of the earliest photography studios in America, between 1841 and 1843, but ironically he gave up the profession shortly after, perhaps because of increased competition or because he realized that he could make more money in the family’s profitable gas and lighting company.” (ZG)

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