Lot 555: JEREMIAH GURNEY (1812-1886)

JEREMIAH GURNEY (1812-1886)
Religious statuary, c. 1860
half-plate daguerreotype
5½ x 4¼in. (14 x 10.8cm.)

With Ken Apollo, Rhinebeck, New York, acquired 1981

Jeremiah Gurney opened a daguerreotype gallery in New York City in 1840 and continually exhibited his work in local fairs for the next decade. In 1851 he exhibited at the international exhibition at the Crystal Palace in London.

After owning a succession of galleries in Brooklyn, Gurney settled into a gallery at 349 Broadway in Manhattan, where he remained for more than a dozen years. Gurney's Daguerreian Gallery was extremely successful, featuring 'reception saloons,' or galleries, with portraits of 'Distinguished Persons of the Age,' photographed at the studio. This daguerreotype made in an ecclesiatical setting is, therefore, extremely rare.