[Students from the Emerson School for Girls]

Albert Sands Southworth|Southworth and Hawes

ca. 1850 · Daguerreotype · Photographs

The Boston partnership of Southworth and Hawes produced the finest portrait daguerreotypes in America for a clientele that included leading political, intellectual, and artistic figures. This full-plate daguerreotype shows the students of the most prominent school for young women in Boston, established in 1823 by George Barrell Emerson, second cousin of the poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson. Although there are over thirty figures in this portrait, the subtle variations in posture, gesture, and facial expression-especially among the seated students in the center-create the impression of a group made up of vivid and distinct individuals.

Artist

Albert Sands Southworth|Southworth and Hawes

Date

ca. 1850

Medium

Daguerreotype

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Gift of I. N. Phelps Stokes, Edward S. Hawes, Alice Mary Hawes, and Marion Augusta Hawes, 1937