Páginas

▼

jueves, 19 de octubre de 2017

THE PARTY GOES ON: DR. JOHN RAE IN FUR A DAGUERROTYPE BY BEARD (EDITED)

I never thought I could find so many new pictures, not only pictures but Daguerrotypes!, in such short time. This time I am proud to announce I have found a beautifully coloured daguerrotype of Dr. John Rae dressed in his arctic outfit, apparently took in 1849, after returning from his overland voyage with Dr. Richardson. At least I had never seen this before now.


John Rae in arctic fur -
Silver Shadows - Fine Early photographs
There is a naughty smile in his face which suggest he was having fun or a good time while dressed like that in the photographic study. Interestengly one of the several streets, surely the locations of the different studies belonging "Beard´s photographic Institutions", is King William Street. It would be a curious and paradoxical coincidence that Rae had been pictured in that precise place. 

This picture had to be taken soon before Beard when bankrupt in 1850, a pity, because if he had overcome his finantial issues, maybe we could have now many more faces, in colour, of those heroic explorers who we could look at their eyes. 

 EDIT: After the convincing comments of some heavyweights of the matter who projected founded doubts about the portrait belongs to John Rae, I have cooked a new theory. Maybe this man is James Clark Ross after all. I have made a quick "Photoshop" to compare the man in the daguerrotype with Ross´s face. Judge yourself:

For me the nose is very similar, if not in the James Clark ROss painting I used , it is in other paintings of him. Only his eyes look different, but as I said in the comments below, maybe J.C. Ross was somehow exhausted after the long winter of 1848-49 and that provoked that languish look. 

en

5 comentarios:

  1. Russell Potterjueves, 19 octubre, 2017

    Andres, I do not believe that this is Rae. The face is wrong, the hat is wrong, the furs are all wrong as well. The site doesn't give any evidence for its identification -- and indeed, I corresponded for some time with a previous owner of this Dag, and we concluded that it was unlikely to be Rae. However, if the site, or if you, have any additional information about this Dag, I'm open to a fresh consideration!

    ResponderEliminar
  2. Ken McGooganviernes, 20 octubre, 2017

    Alas, great photo . . . but not John Rae. The dates do not match. When Richardson returned to England in 1849, Rae stayed in the Arctic. See Dead Reckoning, pp. 211 to 228.

    ResponderEliminar
  3. Andrés Paredesviernes, 20 octubre, 2017

    Thanks for your comments, my new guess is that he could be James Clark Ross after all. The nose has that particular curvature Ross´s nose has. ANd the date fits with his return from his expedition of 1848-49. The initials mentioned in the website where I found it also match somehow J.R. with Ross initials though there would be a missing "C.". Only the eyes are a bit different, but Ross hadn´t precisely a good time during the winter of 1848-49. I am updating and editing the post with a botched attempt of comparing both.

    ResponderEliminar
  4. Soloman Grundysábado, 21 octubre, 2017

    Was the color part of the original 1849 photo, or was it colorized at a later date?

    ResponderEliminar
  5. Andrés Paredeslunes, 23 octubre, 2017

    Hi Soloman, I think they were tinted at the time they were taken, I have seen that in other Beard´s daguerrotypes. Apparently, Richard Beard patented a colouring technique in 1842. It was made at hand. I am thinking now that maybe the initials J.R. could have belonged the artist behind the coulours of that picture, they were usually miniaturist painters. I have learnt that in the "Encyclopedia of nineteenth century Photography"

    ResponderEliminar