Photographic Technologies
Learn more about the photographic techniques available in the mid-19th century
Jenny Lind (1820-1887)
1848Daguerreotype | 11.5 x 9.1 cm (image) | RCIN 2932510
Jenny Lind (1820–87) was a famous Swedish soprano, greatly admired by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Queen Victoria attended the first London performance given by Lind on 4 May 1847. She described the occasion in her journal:
The great event of the evening however was Jenny Lind's appearance & her complete triumph. She has the most exquisite, powerful, & really quite peculiar voice.
Queen Victoria's Journal, RA VIC/MAIN/QVJ (W) 4 May 1857 (Princess Beatrice's copies)
Lind later sang among the choristers at the wedding of the Prince of Wales, later Edward VII, in St George's Chapel in 1863.
William Edward Kilburn (1818–91) exhibited several daguerreotypes at the 1851 Great Exhibition, including this daguerreotype of Lind, then in the possession of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The work was well received. The exhibition jury commented:
For novelty of design we may mention a small picture of the interior of a room, including a whole-length portrait of Jenny Lind: beside, and near her, is a large mirror, in which the figure is reflected. That the reflection in the glass is equally perfect with the original is the point worthy of remark and commendation.
Reports by the Juries on the Subjects in the Thirty Classes into which the Exhibition was Divided, 1852