Among the highlights of the collection are two daguerreotypes, photographs on mirrored plates covered with glass. They are two portraits: of a boy aged approximately fourteen and of a girl aged approximately seven. Both are portrayed sitting down, the girl from a slightly greater distance than the boy.
On the backs of the daguerreotypes, the names of the children were (later) written: Friedrich Wilhelm von Preussen and Luise von Preussen. These are the children of the then Crown Prince and later Kaiser Wilhelm I (1797-1888) and his wife Augusta (1811-1890). Friedrich Wilhelm (1831-1888) succeeded his father as Kaiser Friedrich III in 1888, but died that same year after a reign of only ninety-nine days. Friedrich's sister Luise (1838-1923) married Friedrich I, Grand Duke of Baden (1826-1907) in 1856. Based on an estimate of the ages and a characterisation of the children's clothing, the daguerreotypes were initially dated around 1845, but the name of the photographer was unknown.
The daguerreotype is one of the earliest photographic techniques, invented in 1839 by the Frenchman Louis Daguerre. The daguerreotype produces a unique image that appears on a copper plate with a silver, light-sensitive layer. The technique soon became popular, even outside France. By 1845, a large number of daguerreotypists had established themselves in Berlin, of whom Philipp Graff (1814-1852) and Carl Gustav Oehme (1817-1881) were the best known. The royal family was also very interested in the new procedure - they would certainly have chosen a well-known daguerreotypist to make these portraits. The suspicion that this might be Philipp Graff was confirmed in a study conducted in 2000.
This research focused, among other things, on the diaries of the young Prince Friedrich from the years 1844-1846. These (as yet unpublished) diaries are kept in the Geheimes Staatsarchiv in Berlin. In a note from the year 1845 we read:
28. August. Nach Berlin gefahren. Bei Graf daguerotypiert. [ ]
(translation.: 28. August. Drove to Berlin. Daguerotyped at Graf. At Graf daguerotypiert. [ ])
The fact that the young prince found the event worth recording indicates that it was something special. We can therefore assume that we are dealing with two early daguerreotypes by the hand of Philipp Graff, who apparently was already so well known in 1845 that he received commissions from the royal family.
But there is more to these daguerreotypes: both plates do not show silver, as most daguerreotypes do, but gold. Gold toning of silver plates was more common, but these plates seemed to contain more gold than normal. In order to be able to analyse this gold layer and to examine the plates for the presence of plate and silver marks, the daguerreotypes were opened and examined in the Nationaal Fotorestauratie Atelier (now the Nederlands Fotomuseum) in Rotterdam. This revealed that there was indeed much more gold present than would normally be the case in a gold-embossed plate. The backs of the plates are copper-coloured, but also covered with an extremely thin layer of gold. More data are expected from an electron microscopic examination, but for technical and financial reasons, this examination has not been carried out to date.
Huis Doorn owns the two golden daguerreotypes of Prince Friedrich Wilhelm and Princess Luise von Preußen, two portraits that are very special, both in terms of photo history and technology. The portraits can be attributed with certainty to photographer Philipp Graff; they were taken in his studio in Jerusalemerstraße No.18, Berlin, on 28 August 1845. The photos are unique in terms of the process used. Additional technical research and a study of the sources concerning the method used should provide more clarity in the future. More information about the two daguerreotypes can be found in: Liesbeth Ruitenberg, Two Golden Daguerreotypes: A Research Report, published in The Daguerreian Annual 2001 (Pittsburgh, 2002).
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