Henry William Matthew Meade (1822-1865) and Charles Richard Meade (1826-1858) could easily be considered celebrity photographers by today’s standards. Immigrating from England in 1834, they established their daguerreotype practice in 1842 in Albany, NY. In 1850 during the height of the daguerreotype era, they strategically moved their studio to 233 Broadway in New York City, then the epicenter of photographic production. Their gallery featured a salon style exhibition of an impressive collection of prominent individuals, the most eminent by far being the daguerreotype of Daguerre himself, taken by Charles on an 1848 trip to Europe, making him the only American photographer to have daguerreotyped the great French inventor.

The daguerreotype offered here highlights the brothers use of high quality and expertly polished plates. The National Portrait Gallery holds one of the largest collections of photographs by the Meade brothers and hosted what is believed to be the first exhibition devoted to their work in 2014. Their works can also be found in the collections of the Library of Congress, Washington, D. C., and the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.