Samuel J. Miller

Samuel J. Miller was an American photographer of the nineteenth century, born in 1822 and died in 1888. His portrait of Frederick Douglass, a daguerreotype made in the United States between 1847 and 1852, is in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.

The sitter, Frederick Douglass, was an African American abolitionist and politician, and he is shown wearing a suit.

The plate measures 14 by 10.6 centimeters (5 1/2 by 4 1/8 inches), and the mat opening 12.1 by 8.8 centimeters (4 3/4 by 3 1/2 inches). The plate is kept in a case. Closed, the case measures 15.2 by 12 by 1.4 centimeters (6 by 4 3/4 by 1/2 inches); open, it measures 15.2 by 24 by 2 centimeters (6 by 9 1/2 by 3/4 inches).

The portrait came to the Art Institute of Chicago through the Major Acquisitions Centennial Endowment (accession number 1996.433). It belongs to the museum’s department of Photography and Media.