Lot 523: MARCUS AURELIUS ROOT (1808-1888)

MARCUS AURELIUS ROOT (1808-1888)
Albert Pritchard Root Asleep by the Flag, c. 1850
quarter-plate daguerreotype
3½ x 4¼in. (8.3 x 10.8cm.)

Foresta and Wood, Secrets of the Dark Chamber: The Art of the American Daguereotype, Smithsonian Institution Press, 1995, p. 106

The Root Family Collection

Marcus Aurelius Root learned the daguerreotype process from Robert Cornelius in 1843 (see lot 522 for a portrait by Cornelius), having first studied painting and taught penmanship. The following year he became a partner in daguerreotype studios in Mobile, Alabama, and New Orleans. He later became a partner in Saint Louis, Missouri, and Philadelphia studios. In 1846 Root purchased John Jabez Mayall's studio in Philadelphia. Three years later, in partnership with his brother Samuel, he established a studio in New York on Broadway; this studio lasted until 1857.
Following a disabling railroad accident, Root turned to writing about photographic history and aesthetics; The Camera and The Pencil, published in 1864, was perhaps his best-known publication.
Another example of Root's rare and extremely interesting work can be found in this sale - lot 534.