Full-length studio oversize albumen group portrait. Unmarked. 

A very rare and important portrait of several photographic and military notables, a copy of which was originally published in the seminal book "Mr. Lincoln's Camera Man, Matthew B. Brady" by Roy Meredith (1946). The sitters in this photo were partially identified by Meredith as Admiral David Dixon Porter (seated at far left), Postmaster John A.J. Creswell (standing at left with arms crossed), and legendary American photographer Matthew Brady (seated at right, looking at Porter.) While the identity of the man standing at far right is thusfar unknown, the man standing to the right of Creswell with his arm on Brady's shoulder is Baltimore photographic artist Daniel Bendann. In fact, this albumen bears the stamp of Bendann's gallery at lower right, just below the mounted photograph.

It is unclear what circumstances brought these men together, but Bendann and Brady were friendly and published each other's work. It was also not unusual for "Civil War celebrities" like Porter to darken the doorway of a famous photographer. For his part,  Meredith believed that these albumens were produced by Bendann "from a negative made in the Washington (Brady) Gallery in 1860." 

Daniel Bendann and his brother David opened their flagship Baltimore gallery in 1859, which fits within Meredith's timeline. Known for their refined technical skill and later for their usage of elegant, almost theatric backgrounds, the Bendann Brothers (as they were known) photographed some of the most famous people of the era. Their portraits of Edgar Allen Poe, Robert E. Lee, and multiple US Presidents remain a part of their formidable legacy. It would not have been unusual in the least for Bendann to produce a photo such as the one offered here. 

Notations and other markings on this example support Meredith's original identification; these inscriptions add to the record by identifying Daniel Bendann. 

Photographs of famous Civil War-era photographers such as Brady and Bendann are incredibly scarce; to find both of them within one photo is almost unheard of. We can find almost no additional copies that survive. 

VERY RARE. 

[Photography, Early Photography, Historic Photography, Daguerreotypes, Ambrotypes, Tintypes, Cased Images, Union Cases, Albumen Photographs, CDVs, Carte de Visites, Cartes de Visite, Carte-de-visite, Cartes-de-visite, CDV, Cabinet Cards, Stereoviews, Stereocards]