Smithsonian acquires Earliest Known Photograph of an American First Lady

A landmark in both photographic and American history, the daguerreotype was the subject of fierce competition in Sotheby’s sale of Fine Books and Manuscripts, Including Americana, ultimate selling for some ten times its estimate and becoming, at $456,000, the most valuable American daguerreotype ever sold at auction.

Among the most important American photographic portraits to ever come to market, and one of very few surviving photographs of the woman who defined what it means to be the First Lady of the United States of America, the daguerreotype will now join the museum’s 1843 daguerreotype of John Quincy Adams by Philip Haas – the first known photograph of a U.S. President – which was acquired by the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery from Sotheby’s in 2017.

Likely created in early 1846 by John Plumbe, Jr., when photography was still in its infancy, this portrait captures Madison at 78 years old, a key figure in Washington society, nearly thirty years after her late husband, James Madison, served as the fourth U.S. President (1809-1817) and a decade after she was widowed in 1836.

This image is one of the few surviving photographs of Madison. Initially attributed to Mathew Brady, new research uncovered by Sotheby’s specialists attribute the actual maker as enterprising John Plumbe, Jr., a leading figure in American photography.

Known for her influential role, Dolley Madison came to define a First Lady as we know it today, remaining a polestar of Washington society even after his presidency and after she was widowed. The House of Representatives awarded Dolley Madison an honorary seat on the floor whenever she chose to attend sessions – a privilege never granted before to a woman – and in 1844, when Samuel Morse demonstrated his invention of the electric telegraph, he chose Dolley Madison to send the first private message. Upon her death in 1849, thousands lined the streets to observe the procession – the largest funeral the city had ever seen. President Zachary Taylor's eulogy coined the term "First Lady", a term which survives in American tradition to this day.