Knight with walking stick. Buenos Aires. Circa 1855.

Vintage daguerreotype of a sixth plate. Measurements: 6.5 x 5.3 cm / 2.56 x 2.08 in. The work is preserved in its wooden case lined with morocco leather with the torn hinge and the hook that keeps it closed. It shows the inside of the lid in orange embossed velvet and decorated with artistic phytomorphic figures. The Daguerrean plate is protected by the necessary period elements, a flexible copper perimeter banner, gilded and decorated, a "mat" or passepartout in gilt bronze and with an oval window to highlight the figure of the knight, and then the necessary protective glass. In turn, the entire work is firmly secured to the inside of the back cover, thanks to a perimeter band of red velvet padding.

The impressive invention of the daguerreotype only arrived in the city of Buenos Aires around the middle of the year 1843 and, as of that date, it turned mainly to social iconography; However, those mirrored images were only available to the wealthiest classes because of their high price.

And, of course, this individual daguerreotype portrait confirms it. We are in front of a distinguished Buenos Aires gentleman who, for this special occasion in his life, wears a dark tailcoat, a white shirt and a black silk bow tie. As a sign of class, he has decided to take his portrait with his slim stick. On a plain, clear and neutral background, he poses seated and, at the direction of the gringo daguerreotype player, rests an arm -one of the immobility mechanisms- on the small table covered with a flowery folder. Gaze up at the shining target with the absolute certainty that this portrait will outlive it through time. We are definitely in front of one of the first Argentine photographs.