Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre is the inventor of the photographic process known as daguerreotypy. Daguerreotypes made using his process were most commonly used in 1839-1860. (Fun fact: The first genuine image of Abraham Lincoln was a daguerreotype taken in 1846.)
As we were walking outside the National Portrait Gallery, on the sidewalk of 7th St N.W. in Washington, D.C., we spotted the Daguerre Monument in memory of Louis Daguerre.
A bust of Daguerre sits on a granite base, in front of a huge world globe. A garland is draped over the world and Daguerre. A statue of a woman (“Fame”) stands before him.
There are three inscriptions on the memorial:
Front:
DAGUERRE
Left side:
TO COMMEMORATE THE FIRST HALF-CENTURY IN PHOTOGRAPHY 1839-1889. ERECTED BY THE PHOTOGRAPHER’S ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA, AUGUST, 1890
Right side:
PHOTOGRAPHY, THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH, AND THE STEAM ENGINE ARE THE THREE GREAT DISCOVERIES OF THE AGE. NO FIVE CENTURIES IN HUMAN PROGRESS CAN SHOW SUCH STRIDES AS THESE.
The monument, being on the lawn of the National Portrait Gallery, is enclosed by the same fence that surrounds the Gallery.
The regular rhythm and rigidity of the fence is softened by the newly emerging leaves of the trees in the landscape.
iball round the world 