John Plumbe, Jr.
Madison, Dolley—Plumbe, Jr., John | Quarter-plate daguerreotype.
Photo: Courtesy of Sothebys.
Auction of the Week: Earliest Known Photograph of U.S. First Lady Acquired by National Portrait Gallery
The recently discovered daguerrotype of Dolley Madison soared to $456,000, becoming the most valuable ever sold at auction
The National Portrait Gallery in Washington has bought the earliest known photograph of an American first lady, adding to their expansive collection of important, rare portraits. The quarter-plate daguerreotype of former First Lady Dolley Madison (1768-1849), wife of fourth U.S. president James Madison, dates to around 1846.
The image was made by artist and entrepreneur John Plumbe Jr., and it depicts the trailblazing First Lady when she was around 78 years old as she wears a crocheted shawl and her signature turban. According to Sotheby’s, it is “one of exceedingly few surviving photographs of the woman who has defined for two centuries what it means to be the First Lady of the United States of America.” Sotheby’s had estimated that the daguerreotype would sell for between $50,000 and $70,000. The work ended up selling for more than six times that at $456,000.
Dolley Madison Daguerreotype. Photo: Courtesy of Sotheby's
Dolley Madison Daguerreotype. Photo: Courtesy of Sotheby's
The funds for the work were provided by Secretary of the Smithsonian and the Joseph L. and Emily K. Gidwitz Memorial Foundation Endowment, in addition to private support. “This artifact will provide the Smithsonian another opportunity to tell a more robust American story and illuminate the vital role women like Madison have played in the nation’s progress,” Lonnie G. Bunch III, secretary of the Smithsonian, said in a statement.
The daguerreotype will join the museum’s 1843 daguerreotype of John Quincy Adams by Philip Haas, the first known photograph of a U.S. President, which was acquired by the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery from Sotheby’s in 2017.
Cover: John Plumbe, Jr.
Madison, Dolley—Plumbe, Jr., John | Quarter-plate daguerreotype.
Photo: Courtesy of Sothebys.
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