Daguerreotype Portrait of Daniel Hand
Publication
1853 – 1856 (Earliest/Latest dates)
Half-plate colored Daguerreotype portrait of Daniel Hand (1801-1891), Madison, CT, taken in the early 1850's.
In 1884, Daniel Hand generously provided $15,110 for the construction of Hand Academy, the seminal foundation for the present-day Daniel Hand High School in Madison, CT. By the end of his life, Hand had established a trust fund valued at $1.5 million with the American Missionary Society for the purpose of educating black Americans in the seven southern states that had formerly permitted the enslavement of African people and their descendants. Hand’s trust fund was, at the time, the largest philanthropic gift to a benevolent association in the history of the nation.
Embossed case, now in two pieces, is reddish on one side, dark gray on the other with red velvet inside. 6" x 4 3/4". Colored daguerreotype by (Alexander) Becker and (Victor) Piard, 264 Broadway (NYC) as embossed on the matt. Becker & Piard were at that address only from 1853-1856 (according to Sotheby's), so the attribution on the tag with the image is incorrect. The image is faded unless held at a particular angle to light, when it becomes remarkable, showing a reddish blush on appropriate facial features.
In 1884, Daniel Hand generously provided $15,110 for the construction of Hand Academy, the seminal foundation for the present-day Daniel Hand High School in Madison, CT. By the end of his life, Hand had established a trust fund valued at $1.5 million with the American Missionary Society for the purpose of educating black Americans in the seven southern states that had formerly permitted the enslavement of African people and their descendants. Hand’s trust fund was, at the time, the largest philanthropic gift to a benevolent association in the history of the nation.
Embossed case, now in two pieces, is reddish on one side, dark gray on the other with red velvet inside. 6" x 4 3/4". Colored daguerreotype by (Alexander) Becker and (Victor) Piard, 264 Broadway (NYC) as embossed on the matt. Becker & Piard were at that address only from 1853-1856 (according to Sotheby's), so the attribution on the tag with the image is incorrect. The image is faded unless held at a particular angle to light, when it becomes remarkable, showing a reddish blush on appropriate facial features.
79.346