Unidentified Man

Unidentified Man

Mathew Brady Studio, active 1844 - 1894 (attributed)

Details

Palette

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Dimensions
Plate: 8.8 × 5.9 × 0.2 cm (3 7/16 × 2 5/16 × 1/16"); Support Plate: 9.4 × 19.1 × 0.2 cm (3 11/16 × 7 1/2 × 1/16")
License
CC0-1.0
Credit
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; Frederick Hill Meserve Collection

Art Genome Taxonomy

10 tags

Subject Matter

  • Portrait Both · 99%

    The work is titled “Unidentified Man,” cataloged as a portrait, and visibly presents one formally posed male sitter.

  • Individual Portrait Visual · 99%

    A single isolated sitter occupies the central portion of the composition, establishing an individual rather than group portrait.

  • Interiors Both · 98%

    The image shows a staged furnished setting with drapery, chairs, and a patterned floor covering; the catalog also lists “Interior” as a subject.

Visual Qualities

  • Black and White Visual · 99%

    The supplied image is rendered entirely in grayscale tonal values, with no visible color information.

Medium and Techniques

  • Photography Both · 99%

    The object is visibly photographic and is cataloged under Photographic Negative and Photographs.

  • The catalog identifies the medium as a glass plate collodion negative, a nineteenth-century photographic process.

Time Periods

  • 19th Century Art Metadata · 98%

    The catalog dates the work to approximately c. 1860–70, placing it within nineteenth-century art.

Materials

  • Glass as Material Metadata · 99%

    The catalog identifies the support as a glass plate in the medium description: glass plate collodion negative.

Furniture and Lighting

  • Chair Both · 99%

    Ornate seating is clearly visible on both sides of the sitter, and the catalog specifically identifies chair and seating as subjects.

  • Table Metadata · 86%

    The catalog subject hierarchy explicitly includes a table under Home Furnishings/Furniture, although a table is not clearly distinguishable in the supplied image.

Source & rights

Mathew Brady Studio, active 1844 - 1894. Unidentified Man. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; Frederick Hill Meserve Collection.