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Photo of Joseph Smith?
A woman in my local church congregation says this is a photo of a daguerreotype of Joseph Smith, which she owns. Daguerreotypes were usually about the size of a postage stamp, and the only way to reproduce them was to take a photo. So, this is believed to be a photo of the only known image ever taken of Joseph Smith. There is some disagreement as to whether the daguerroeotype is real.
This woman came to own the photo because an elderly woman she used to take care of passed away, and she found it while cleaning out her house. She took it to an appraiser who said it was real and that they are very rare. Real or not, my wife and I were both awe struck at how amazing and captivating it was.
Thoughts? . . .
UPDATE: Wikipedia says “This photograph is claimed “by many experts” to be a daguerreotype of Joseph Smith, Jr. taken in 1843 by Lucian Foster. In fact it is simply a crude 19th century example of photographic collage, made superimposing the clothes from a genuine photo portrait on the Charles Carter portrait.”
UPDATE 2:
See: Joseph Smith Painting: “Prophet, Seer and Revelator”
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about 5 years ago
Same image is featured on JS’s Wikipedia page.
about 5 years ago
Although I’m looking at a small image on the Internet and not the real thing, I must say it doesn’t look anything like a photo to me. It looks like a drawing. I went to a year of art school and therefore am an expert on such things.
Nor does it look like other artwork of Joseph Smith, including the death mask of Joseph. My first impression is that it is a drawing of someone other than Joseph Smith.
about 5 years ago
This is a photograph of a daguerrotype of an oil painting.
about 4 years ago
9 su 10! Ottenerlo! Siete buoni!
about 4 years ago
This looks like a Weggland drawing or painting to me. Obviously influenced by the Carter or Carson daguerreotype of the oil painting owned by the Community of Christ.
about 4 years ago
This is a painting of the prophet Joseph Smith or maybe a photo of the painting. It has been around for years and is in a lot of the LDS works
about 3 years ago
This is not a daguerreotype of Joseph Smith its a picture of a painting. There is a Photo taken in 1879 of an original daguerreotype of Joseph Smith. This daguerreotype Shows very plainly the same features as his death mask. If you want to see an actual photo of an actual daguerreotype of an actual Joseph Smith, not a painting.
And If you want to see the death mask and the proof of it’s originality, go to
http://comevisit.com/lds/js3photo.htm
If anyone has further comments on it please respond
about 3 years ago
The photo referenced at comevisit.com is a photo of the oil painting that hung with it Emma companion painting not a photograph of Joseph. Even the Community of Christ Archavist will attest to it being a photo done by Jane Robinson, hired by Joseph III and Louis Bitteman. They hired Carson to do some touch ups, took a daguerreotype of it and sold it as a picture of Joseph Jr. Go to Josephsmithpainting.com to see the basic research of this.
about 3 years ago
Ok, that idea of it being a picture of an oil painting is lame. I went to josephsmithpainting.com. I’ve never read or seen anything so ridiculous in my life.
It’s easy to see the its not a photo of a painting. the photo was used as a model to paint the painting, like many painters do. thats why they look so much alike. next you are going to tell me that Joseph smiths spirit came to you and told you the photo isn’t real. Dude your eyes are playing tricks on you. the problem is, when you study something to long, things appear in your mind that never go away. In my experience, first glances are usually reality, if not, then look a little closer. But beware, because looking to close will obscure your vision.
about 3 years ago
Call the LDS Archives and ask for William(Bill)Slaughter, the head photo archivist ask him what research and finding he has done and presented to the first presidency about the photo of the painting. Next call and talk to Ron Romig or Lach McKay head archivist of the community of christ, who own the painting and ask them about their research. If you are to lazy to do that research then find the Dec. 1995 issue of the Saints hearld and you will see the true history behind the Carson/Carter daguerreotype of the OIL PAINTING. Do some real research before you type. Maybe you need to LOOK a little harder.
about 3 years ago
Two days ago I put up three scanned images of the real missing daguerreotype of Joseph Smith, which is no longer missing, as I now know where it is. Click my name to enter my blog and see for yourself that the daguerreotype I’ve posted is the most likely candidate as being of the Prophet.
about 3 years ago
I have a 17″x21″ copy of this same picture, slightly different, from about 1880. I understand these pictures were made from daguerreotype photos of the Joseph Smith painting owned by the former R-LDS Church.
This front view painting, and one other side view painting, are supposedly the only two verified pictures painted from an actual sitting by Joseph.
Around the 1880′s there was a lot of demand for portraits of Joseph, Hyrum and others to hang in Churches and homes. Carter did a lot of these by drawing over the enlarged photo with charcoal.
I would like to find a similar type picture of Hyrum and Emma to hang by my picture of Joseph.
I have enjoyed everybodies comments.
about 3 years ago
I sincerely feel that this is a very accurate portrayal of Joseph Smith Jr.
about 2 years ago
If you want to know what Joseph Smith really looked like, do not rely on pictures taken from his death mask. when he fell out of the Carthage Jail window, several facial bones were broken, causing marked disfiguration. Thus the death mask would not provide an accurate reproduction of what he looked like before he died.
about 1 year ago
Joshua states that he went to art school for a year, and therefore is an expert. This kind of makes me laugh. Never-the-less, I have to agree with him.
I am an artist that has studied extensively, painted over 200 portraits, and studied the controversy for years.
This image, regardless of whether it involves daguerroetypes, photos, paintings, and/or drawings, in which ever order they may have occurred, has many of the marks of an attempt to paint the human face.
I recognize the same errors that I used to make and those made by other, less experienced painters. The bottom of the nose, the eyes, and many other features are NOT what real faces look like. They resemble the features, but are evident to my eye that they were fashioned by and artist and not the actual photographic recording of the features of any real human being.