Existing comment:
Mathew Brady, 1823?-1896
Published in the first issue of the Photographic Art Journal, an early journal of photography, Francis D'Avignon's lithographic portrait celebrates pioneering photographer Mathew Brady. The lithograph accompanied an article about Brady by C. Edwards Lester that praised the young daguerreotypist, who specialized in creating portraits. Lester's essay celebrates Brady's groundbreaking Gallery of Illustrious Americans, inaugurated a year before this portrait was made and featuring photographic images of politicians, military generals, and men of letters. Although the ambitious project, which featured lithographs by D'Avignon based on photographs by Brady, was not a financial success, Lester noted that "before the Daguerrean art was discovered, it is useless to say that it was within the power of any publisher in the world, or any artist in the world, to execute such faithful, life-like, and strikingly beautiful portraits of our public men."
Francis D'Avignon, 1851 |