Discovery of Photograph of Joseph Smith?

[smac97]

Here:

Quote

Mormon founder Joseph Smith’s photo discovered by descendant after nearly 180 years

A great-great-grandson of Joseph Smith Jr. found the Mormon prophet’s photo tucked inside a locket passed down for generations.

An oil painting of Joseph Smith Jr., left, from September 1842 by artist David Rogers. Photo of a daguerreotype of Joseph Smith Jr., possibly from May or early June of 1844. Painting © Community of Christ. Photo © 2022 Dan Larsen. PHOTO NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION.

 

Marooned in their homes, many Americans made the best of the early days of the pandemic by sorting through old boxes of family artifacts. One Saturday morning in March 2020, Dan Larsen and his wife were doing just that when they discovered the world’s only verified photographic image of Mormonism’s founder, Joseph Smith Jr.

Larsen, 79, is a great-great-grandson of Smith, who was killed by a mob near Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1844. Among the effects passed down to Larsen was a locket shaped like a small pocket watch that bore the initials of his great-grandfather Joseph Smith III, the prophet’s oldest son and founder of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, now called Community of Christ.

When Larsen inherited the locket shortly before his mother’s death in 1992, its finial was bent and he was not able to open it, so he put it away for safekeeping.

While riding out pandemic shutdowns in 2020, he and his wife embarked on a project of sorting through items collected from both sides of their family. “I was a little hesitant” about prying the locket open, Larsen told Religion News Service in a phone interview. But he was soon able to wrest it open and shine a penlight inside.

Expecting to find a watch face, he was stunned to see the face of a man.

“In my mind, there was no question who it was,” Larsen said. He felt sure he was staring into the eyes of Joseph Smith Jr. For years, historians had speculated about the possibility that a photographic image of Joseph Smith was out there somewhere, based on claims various Smith relatives had made, and an advertisement from the 1850s.

Larsen felt certain he’d found such a photo. And because the locket had been closed up tight for decades, protected from light, the image was still remarkably clear.

An heirloom locket with a daguerreotype of Joseph Smith Jr., possibly from May or early June of 1844, discovered by Smith’s great-great-grandson Dan Larsen. Photo © 2022 Dan Larsen. PHOTO NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION.

What followed was more than two years of verification. Larsen called his nephew, the historian and Community of Christ apostle Lachlan Mackay, to help him assemble experts and test the hypothesis that the image was that of Smith. Mackay joined forces with historian Ron Romig, the retired chief archivist for Community of Christ.

In an article in the spring/summer issue of The John Whitmer Historical Association Journal, out Thursday (July 21), the two historians detail the steps they took to authenticate the daguerreotype.

They hired facial recognition experts to compare the daguerreotype to Smith’s death mask. The company reported back that 19 of 21 measured features matched, within a 95% confidence interval.

Another expert compared the daguerreotype’s facial features with those seen in the most famous oil painting of Joseph Smith, noting that the hairline and other features were a match and that both images showed the same “distinctive frown line near the left eyebrow,” the article states.

Meanwhile, Mackay and Romig tried to verify the find through historical research. Now that they knew the long-rumored daguerreotype was housed inside a locket, they realized that it had, in fact, been “hiding in plain sight” all this time.

“The locket shows up on prominent Smith family women through the years,” Mackay said. Bertha Madison Smith, who married one of Joseph Jr. and Emma’s sons, wore it in a portrait in 1869. In 1875, a granddaughter wore it in her wedding portrait, in which the locket was hanging from a chain.

It’s believed that the locket remained in Emma’s possession until her death in 1879 and that she loaned it to female family members for special occasions. It eventually made its way to the family of the RLDS prophet Fred M. Smith (1874–1946), Joseph Jr.’s grandson and Larsen’s grandfather.

Mackay and Romig also investigated links to the likely photographer, a man named Lucian Foster. A Mormon branch president in New York City in 1839, when daguerreotypes first reached U.S. shores, Foster was an expert in the craft by the time he moved to Nauvoo to join his fellow Mormons in April 1844. Since he rented a room in the prophet’s home, he had close proximity to the Smith family. Experts think it’s during the brief period of May or early June of 1844 that Smith had Foster take his picture.

Now it’s time for the photo’s story to be told.

Larsen kept his discovery of the daguerreotype under wraps during the verification process. Few people other than the experts have seen the image. He and Mackay are planning to give a presentation about the daguerreotype at the Smith family reunion in Nauvoo in early August, telling other Smith descendants about the image’s history and the way it was passed through the family.

David Howlett, a professor of religion at Smith College and the author of “Kirtland Temple: The Biography of a Shared Mormon Sacred Space,” got a preview of the presentation and believes the evidence is strong. “I think that they’ve been very careful, and they make a convincing, plausible case for this,” he said.

Larsen would not say definitively what would happen to the locket and the Smith image next. “I probably won’t speculate on that right now, but I have to say that I feel that the original artifact needs to be in Salt Lake with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which I am now a member of,” he said. He grew up in the RLDS church but converted to the Utah-based LDS church about eight years ago.

The few people who have seen the image so far have been struck by Smith’s eyes. “If you look at the picture, and those eyes, it’s mesmerizing,” Larsen said.

Mackay agreed. “I think for generations, people have wondered what Joseph looked like. Where was the charisma that people talk about? What was it about this man that caused people to follow him through incredible difficulty through the years? I think I can see through the eyes what might have induced those people to follow him. Parley P. Pratt and others talk about Joseph Smith’s eyes, his gaze, the way he could almost look right through you. And I think I see that.”

Very cool.

Thanks,

-Smac

[JAHS]

Other photos have also been "discovered", but this one seems to be a more sure thing than all the others.

[Fether]

Wow

[CA Steve]

 

So is the Scannel Daguerreotype a younger version of him? They look very similar to me.

[Duncan]

2 minutes ago, CA Steve said:

 

So is the Scannel Daguerreotype a younger version of him? They look very similar to me.

this has some good points

https://www.knowbrotherjoseph.com/scannel

 

i'd say it isn't him. The eyes are different.  I wonder if there is any documentary evidence of Joseph sitting for a photo? that would help at least indicate that at some point there was a photo of him but if not then maybe not

[pogi]

1 hour ago, smac97 said:

Here:

Very cool.

Thanks,

-Smac

Wow, that is exciting and sounds very promising.  

After reading, I had suspicions that it could be Joseph Smith III in the photo, having his initials and all, which could explain the history of the photo too.  After looking at images of Joseph Smith III however, all my suspicions are resolved. 

https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/d/images/9/91/JosephSmith3.jpg

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/theworkandtheglory/images/2/27/Joseph_Smith_III.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20180613002010

The significant resemblance to the painting with both containing the prominent frown line by the left brow (very convincing), the matches with the death mask, and the history of the photo all have me convinced that is Joseph Smith Jr.

Are there any skilled photoshop users on here?  It would be really cool to add skin tones from the painting to the picture, and add the "light chestnut" or "auburn" hair, and "penetrating light blue" eyes.  That would be a stunning picture to see him in life-like color.  The painting makes his eyes look darker blue, but from the picture, the description of "penetrating light blue" eyes, seems a perfect description.  It has also been said that he always had a "pleasant smile" with a "happy light that beamed from his mild blue eyes."  I can see that in the portrait above.  Those eyes are light blue, mesmerizing and penetrating, with a pleasant light about them.  I feel like I am looking at Joseph, and feel pretty overwhelmed at the thought.  

I hate to get my hopes up only to get them crushed, but unless proven otherwise, I am so far convinced.  

 

 

 

Edited July 21, 2022 by pogi

[Duncan]

There is no way these two men are the same man. 

https://religionnews.com/2022/07/21/mormon-founder-joseph-smiths-photo-discovered-by-descendant-after-nearly-180-years/

the nose is different, especially at the top, the painting has Joseph's nose as thinner, this man's bridges out more into the brow. I'd say the photo has the man having a bit of a lazy eye, the painting doesn't have anything like that. I am unconvinced they are the same. 

[Calm]

54 minutes ago, JAHS said:

Other photos have also been "discovered", but this one seems to be a more sure thing than all the others.

A friend who is a historian says the ones reporting the new find are reliable and careful historians, which ups the likelihood it is for real in his opinion.

[ttribe]

21 minutes ago, Duncan said:

There is no way these two men are the same man. 

https://religionnews.com/2022/07/21/mormon-founder-joseph-smiths-photo-discovered-by-descendant-after-nearly-180-years/

the nose is different, especially at the top, the painting has Joseph's nose as thinner, this man's bridges out more into the brow. I'd say the photo has the man having a bit of a lazy eye, the painting doesn't have anything like that. I am unconvinced they are the same. 

What makes you think the painted portrait is accurate?

[juliann]

20 minutes ago, Duncan said:

There is no way these two men are the same man. 

https://religionnews.com/2022/07/21/mormon-founder-joseph-smiths-photo-discovered-by-descendant-after-nearly-180-years/

the nose is different, especially at the top, the painting has Joseph's nose as thinner, this man's bridges out more into the brow. I'd say the photo has the man having a bit of a lazy eye, the painting doesn't have anything like that. I am unconvinced they are the same. 

Emma said the painting wasn't a good representation. The most compelling evidence is the pictures of Smith women descendants wearing the locket. 

[Calm]

Quote

“The locket shows up on prominent Smith family women through the years,” Mackay said. Bertha Madison Smith, who married one of Joseph Jr. and Emma’s sons, wore it in a portrait in 1869. In 1875, a granddaughter wore it in her wedding portrait, in which the locket was hanging from a chain.

It’s believed that the locket remained in Emma’s possession until her death in 1879 and that she loaned it to female family members for special occasions. It eventually made its way to the family of the RLDS prophet Fred M. Smith (1874–1946), Joseph Jr.’s grandson and Larsen’s grandfather.

I love that there is record of the locket which kept the photo safe all these years. (I see Juliann was struck by it as well)

Edited July 21, 2022 by Calm

[OGHoosier]

His visage is harsher than I would have expected, though the uncomfortable nature of sitting for a daguerreotype would probably account for that. Those eyes are absolutely penetrating though.  

[Calm]

2 minutes ago, OGHoosier said:

His visage is harsher than I would have expected, though the uncomfortable nature of sitting for a daguerreotype would probably account for that. Those eyes are absolutely penetrating though.  

He looks tired and a bit sad to me….but it is not like many old photos show smiling.

Edited July 21, 2022 by Calm

[InCognitus]

The only thing that doesn't look quite right to me is the length and prominence of the nose, and possibly the skin around the mouth and chin.  The Daguerreotype makes him appear to be older around the mouth and chin (it looks like sagging skin), perhaps more than for someone who is 38 years old, and I'm comparing that to the death mask.  But I know from personal experiences in doing life masks that making a casting of a face tends to compress the skin a lot, so maybe that is the reason for the difference.   But the bone structure at the top of the nose and eye sockets looks exactly like the death mask:

 

 

[pogi]

1 hour ago, Duncan said:

There is no way these two men are the same man. 

https://religionnews.com/2022/07/21/mormon-founder-joseph-smiths-photo-discovered-by-descendant-after-nearly-180-years/

the nose is different, especially at the top, the painting has Joseph's nose as thinner, this man's bridges out more into the brow. I'd say the photo has the man having a bit of a lazy eye, the painting doesn't have anything like that. I am unconvinced they are the same. 

Keep in mind it is only an artists rendition.  I think there is a very strong resemblance.  No painting is a perfect match, and sometimes they are pretty off.  Every description of Joseph describes him with light blue eyes but the painting looks pretty dark, for example.  A more accurate comparison would be to the death mask, which it turns out is a pretty solid match.

One thing is for certain - whoever this man is, it is an important family heirloom displayed in many family pictures of people wearing it.  Who in Joseph Smith's lineage would carry so much importance and prominence to be worn for generations around the neck?  Who else in the lineage would display the same distinctive frown line to the center of the left brow?  It simply doesn't make any sense from a historical perspective that it would be anyone other than Joseph Smith.    

Edited July 21, 2022 by pogi

[longview]

The photo is an image of a really rugged frontiersman, the face of intelligence, lips set in tremendous endurance and the eyes of love, compassion and visionary seer.

[Duncan]

42 minutes ago, ttribe said:

What makes you think the painted portrait is accurate?

I get that portraits aren't a hundred percent accurate but why show that painting next to this photo though? IIRC it was painted in 1842 so it has some likeness. I don't know who painted it or if Joseph Smith sat for it or it was from memory. there is too much difference between the two for me to be convinced. Joseph Smith had other male descendants, why not them? 

Edited July 21, 2022 by Duncan

[Duncan]

For all we know it could be be an older version of Joseph's son Frederick

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9309997/frederick-granger_williams-smith

[pogi]

20 minutes ago, Duncan said:

I get that portraits aren't a hundred percent accurate but why show that painting next to this photo though?

Because they look alike.

It's all in the eye of the beholder I guess.

I see a significant resemblance in The lips, the prominent chin, the eyes are a bit bigger in the painting but have similar shape and look, the full thick hair.  You say the nose is off, but I found that to be one of the more distinct resemblences. The pointed nasal tip and petite ala (the tissue comprising the lateral boundary of the nose, inferiorly, surrounding the naris - thanks anatomy class!), with the same distinct wrinkle line at the nasian of the nose and central left brow.   I honestly don't know how you can't see the resemblance.   Not perfect resemblance, but Emma didn't like it much either apparently. 

[pogi]

21 minutes ago, Duncan said:

For all we know it could be be an older version of Joseph's son Frederick

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9309997/frederick-granger_williams-smith

Do you really think that is a better resemblance?  Don't think so. 

Also, Bertha Madison Smith (wife of Joseph Smith III) was wearing it in a picture from 1869.  Why would Bertha be wearing a locket with a picture of her still living and very young at the time brother-in-law.  That would be a bit creepy and weird don't you think.

[Duncan]

8 minutes ago, pogi said:

Because they look alike.

It's all in the eye of the beholder I guess.

I see a significant resemblance in The lips, the prominent chin, the eyes are a bit bigger in the painting but have similar shape and look, the full thick hair.  You say the nose is off, but I found that to be one of the more distinct resemblences. The pointed nasal tip and petite ala (the tissue comprising the lateral boundary of the nose, inferiorly, surrounding the naris - thanks anatomy class!), with the same distinct wrinkle line at the nasian of the nose and central left brow.   I honestly don't know how you can't see the resemblance.   Not perfect resemblance, but Emma didn't like it much either apparently. 

the nose to me is what gives it away that it isn't the same person. In the death mask his nose is almost bulbous and the photo doesn't have anything like that. I could care less but I don't think they are the same person. In Joseph's two sons David and Joseph they have thinner noses and Lucy doesn't have that feature.

[Duncan]

2 minutes ago, pogi said:

Do you really think that is a better resemblance?  Don't think so. 

Also, Bertha Madison Smith (wife of Joseph Smith III) was wearing it in a picture from 1869.  Why would Bertha be wearing a locket with a picture of her still living and very young at the time brother-in-law.  That would be a bit creepy and weird don't you think.

but this is from a society that married really young though, that's creepier to me. Besides who said she was wearing it, did she say that? or is there photo evidence of it?

[OGHoosier]

I will say that the painting and the death mask both have a pronounced curve on the upper lip which the Larsen daguerreotype is missing. There's a vague hint of it in the Scannel daguerreotype.  That's strange. 

Edited July 21, 2022 by OGHoosier

[manol]

Not that I have any expertise in anything relevant, but the right earlobe in the Rogers oil painting is significantly different from the right earlobe in the Larsen daguerreotype.   But the Larsen earlobe and ear shape seem to match the Scannel daguerreotype.   The philtrum (indentation above the upper lip) also matches up on the two daguerreotypes, but again the portrait is different.  IF the timelines for the daguerreotypes make sense then I think they could be of the same individual, but it is not obvious to me that that individual is Joseph Smith, based on the discrepancies with the portrait.  Or maybe it is Joseph - seems to me that off-center furrow at the top of the nose is an unlikely feature.

39 minutes ago, Duncan said:

the nose to me is what gives it away that it isn't the same person. In the death mask his nose is almost bulbous and the photo doesn't have anything like that.

The altercation which led up to the death mask being made could have included an injury to the nose, as well as other facial injuries. 

Edited July 21, 2022 by manol

[InCognitus]

50 minutes ago, pogi said:

Keep in mind it is only an artists rendition.  I think there is a very strong resemblance.  No painting is a perfect match, and sometimes they are pretty off. 

Paintings are essentially the same thing as doing an entire photo of someone in Photoshop.  Maybe they are accurate, but maybe they aren't.  It depends on the artist and his or her commitment to accuracy.  But there will always be the element of artistic license involved in both. 

I've always liked this circa 1470 painting, Portrait of a Woman of the Hofer Family.  The artist was very precise in portraying every detail of her elaborate headdress and dress, and even down to the threads and stiches in her clothing.  And then he or she (the artist is unknown) added the fly on her head (my favorite part).  But the woman's face has a very stylized appearance, reminiscent of other paintings from that time period.  But who knows, maybe everyone looked that way in 1470.

 

Edited July 21, 2022 by InCognitus