Statuary Group by Richards
SOLD October 2009 |
Rare American stereo daguerreotype of a statuary group by Frederick DeBourg Richards, Philadelphia. With reverse label reading "Stereoscopes Made and For Sale by Richards, 179 Chestnut Street, Philada...." and sellers label for "McAllister & Co. Opticians 48 Chestnut St. Philada".
American stereo daguerreotypes in this format are very rare, and all the more so to find a signed example by the Philadelphia artist and daguerreotypist Frederick DeBourg Richards, and one identified as sold through the shop of the McAllisters, themselves important pioneers in photography. Richards work as a period painter and artist may well have led him into choose sculpture as a daguerreian subject.
The two images of this pair are crisp, well-lit, and in excellent condition, with minor speckling. As with other examples of Richard's stereoviews I have seen, the stereo effect seems to be an extreme hyper-stereo when viewed in standard viewers. Overall dimensions of the mount are about 3-1/8 x 6-7/8 inches (8x17 cm). Mount archivally resealed at edges using the original blue paper and modern paper tinted to match.
