340
in 1842, he made a few portraits after this date. After
the use of residential gas lights had become popular,
Cornelius returned to the family lamp business where he
continued until he retired in 1877 and turned the business
over to his sons. During retirement, Cornelius operated
a fruit farm near Frankford, Pennsylvania.
In 1876, Marcus Aurelius Root, a former pupil of
Cornelius’s organized a historical display of photog-
raphy for the Centennial Exposition. The Cornelius
self-portrait was included in this exhibition. Cornelius
exhibited his lighting fi xtures at the Centennial, and
most likely saw the photography exhibition.
Fewer than fi fty daguerreotypes by Robert Cornelius
are extant. Among the institutions that hold his work are
the Library of Congress, the International Museum of
Photography and Film at the George Eastman House,
the Library Company (Philadelphia), and the American
Philosophical Society, as well as several private col-
lections.
Carol Johnson
Biography
Genealogical information about Robert Cornelius’s
mother is very limited. According to a family member,
Christian Cornelius was married three times, fi rst to
Anna Buck, then Sarah Jackson. He was survived by
Sarah McGowan. Robert Cornelius was born on 1 March
1809 in Philadelphia. He married Harriet Comly (spelled
Comeley in History of the Cornelius Family in America)
in 1832. They had eight children, three sons and fi ve
daughters. Cornelius spent most of his career working
in his family’s lamp business. He was awarded several
patents for improvements to gas lighting. Cornelius
operated one of the fi rst daguerreotype studios in Phila-
delphia between 1840 and 1842. His studio attracted
both portrait sitters and people interested in viewing
the daguerreotypes that were on display in his gallery.
His rare portraits are celebrated for their mastery of the
daguerreotype process. Cornelius died on 10 August
1893 at the age of 85.
See Also: Daguerre, Louis Jacques Mandé; Saxton,
Joseph; Goddard, Paul Beck; Johnson, Walter Rogers;
and Root, Marcus Aurelius.
Further Reading
Carson, Marian S., “A Very Good Specimen of the Daguerreo-
type” in American Heritage 32, no. 2 (February/March 1981):
92–92.
Johnson, Carol, “Photographic Materials” in Gathering History:
The Marian S. Carson Collection of Americana, Washington,
DC: Library of Congress, 1999.
Stapp, William F., “Early Attempts to Improve the Daguerreo-
type: Two Plates in the Franklin Institute” in Image 19, no. 1
(March 1976): 7–12.
Stapp, William F., Robert Cornelius: Portraits from the Dawn
of Photography, Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution
Press, 1983.COROT, JEAN-BAPTISTE CAMILLE
(1796–1875)
An accomplished landscape painter and
draughtsmanJean-Baptiste Camille Corot was also the most important
practitioner of cliché-verre in the nineteenth century.
Introduced to technique in Arras in 1853 by the painter/
lithographer Constant Dutilleux, Corot created at least
fi fty clichés-verre between 1853 and 1861 and produced
another sixteen in the early 1870s. He experimented with
several techniques, including tamponnage (tapping the
glass negative with a stiff brush to create texture). Most
of Corot’s clichés-verre are rapidly sketched landscapes,
some with fi gures, although he also completed several
large, complex works that exist in several states, such
as Le Songeur (illus.).
Drawn to the fl uidity and relative freedom of the tech-
nique, Corot left the complex chemical manipulations
of printing from the negative to his colleagues in Arras,
including Dutilleux, Adalbert Cuvelier, Léandre Grand-
guillaume, and Charles Desavary, who printed most of
Corot’s clichés-verre after 1858. Though he generally
made salt prints, in the 1870s Desavary made some
prints on albumen paper. Desavary also experimented
with making reductions and countertype impressions
from Corot’s glass negatives. Between 1911–1913, the
amateur photographer Albert Bouasse-Lebel attempted
to make prints from about fi fteen of Corot’s negatives
acquired from Cuvelier; most are characterized by un-
trimmed edges. These negatives were then acquired by
Parisian editor Maurice le Garrec, who reprinted them in
1921 in an edition entitled Quarante Clichés-Glace.
Sarah KennelCOSMES DE COSSÍO, ANTONIO L.
(b. 1820s)
Antonio was the son of Antonio Cosmes, a Spanish
offi cer, and Guadalupe de Cossío, his well-connected
Mexican wife, was one of a number of daguerreotypists
active in Mexico during the Mexican War (1846–1848),
and is considered to be the fi rst native Mexican to have
practiced the trade. Cosmes was initially associated with
the American C.S. Betts who had a studio in Mexico
City. In January 1848 Cosmes announced his break
from Betts and the opening of his own studio at calle
San José Real #5, and advertised his specialties as a
miniaturist and colorist. One of Cosmes’ fi rst commis-