Pair of sixth plate studio portrait daguerreotypes. Attributed to Alexander Hesler (Galena or Chicago, Illinois), ca. mid-1850s. Housed facing one another in a double-opening leatherette case. 

A fascinating and intimate family archive in miniature, reuniting the same mother and children documented in the preceding lots across consecutive sittings. The left plate captures the older daughter and brother several years after their Galena childhood portrait, now grown into young adolescence. The sister is seated in a dark off-the-shoulder dress with her hair parted and styled in long side ringlets, while her brother stands proudly beside her in a tailored dark single-breasted suit, crisp white collared shirt, and dark bow tie.

The right plate features the mother seated alongside the youngest son, who has grown from the toddler seen in the quarter-plate view. The mother wears a bold woven plaid taffeta day gown with a wide white collar, her hair smoothed severely in the same center-parted arrangement seen in her solo portrait. Seated at her side, the young boy wears a light patterned calico tunic shirt tucked into dark trousers, with his hair combed in a tall, jaunty central wave.

The continuity of subjects, studio lighting, and Midwest provenance firmly supports the attribution to pioneer master Alexander Hesler during the mid-1850s, whether at his initial Galena gallery or shortly after his transition to Chicago. Linked multi-generational family daguerreotype groupings that chart children aging over subsequent years offer a compelling visual narrative.

[Daguerreotype, Sixth Plate, Alexander Hesler, Double Case, Family Archive, Mother and Children, Siblings, Midwest, Galena, Chicago, Illinois Photography, Plaid Dress, Victorian Fashion, Cased Image, 1850s Photography, Americana]

Very good condition overall. Both plates retain strong tonal contrast, clear focal depth, and fine definition. The silvered plates show light, scattered pinpoint dusting under the glass, faint peripheral wiping marks, and pale halo tarnish along the inner mat bevels.