Horace Clark Carte-de-visite

Object Details

Horace Clark represented a New York district in Congress and went on to preside over the railway companies Western Union Telegraph and Union Trust. This carte-de-visite photograph was taken by the famous New York studio Gurney & Son. Jeremiah Gurney was a pioneer of commercial photography, starting a daguerreotype studio in the 1840s where he produced images of the highest quality—and eschewed the business of actors and politicians, hewing to a more traditional conception of portraiture. This image likely dates to later in Clark’s career, which coincides with both Gurney’s expansion to Gurney & Sons and Clark’s entry into a career considered sufficiently elite for the upscale photographer.