1823 or 1824 Mathew Brady born in Warren County, New York.
1835? Travels to Albany for treatment of a "violent inflammation of the eyes." Probably meets artist William Page.
1839? Arrives in New York City. Meets Samuel F. B. Morse and Samuel P. Avery. Learns to make daguerreotypes.
1843 Works as independent manufacturer of jewelry cases at 164 Fulton Street.
1844 Opens "Daguerrean Miniature Gallery" at 205-207 Broadway, at Fulton Street.
Enters annual fair of the American Institute and wins top prize.
1845 Begins to exhibit his portraits of famous Americans.
1846 Makes portraits of prisoners for phrenologist Eliza Farnham to illustrate her edition of Rationale of Crime.
Woodcut copies of portraits illustrate articles on American art by E. Anna Lewis for Home Journal.
1849 Opens studio in Washington, D.C.; makes portraits of Zachary Taylor, his cabinet, and other politicians.
1850 Announces publication of Gallery of Illustrious Americans, twelve lithographs made after daguerreotypes. Subjects include Zachary Taylor, John C. Fr#&233;mont, and John James Audubon.
1850-1851 Marries Juliette Handy.
1851 Mathew Brady's daguerreotypes win a medal at the Crystal Palace Exhibition in London. The Bradys travel to Europe and remain for almost a year.
1853 Opens new studio at 359 Broadway, over the popular restaurant Thompson's Saloon.
1855 Advertises new process for making photographs on paper from glass negatives.
1856 Exhibits "photography on canvas" "large portrait photographs printed on canvas and colored with oil paint."
Wins praise for new, large photographs called "Brady Imperials."
Alexander Gardner joins Brady's staff.
1857 Harper's Weekly first publishes engravings after portraits by Brady.
Photographs landscape sites for Calvert Vaux and Frederick Law Olmsted, whose "Greensward" plan wins competition for design of new Central Park.
1858 Opens Brady's National Photographic Art Gallery in Washington, at 350-352 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Alexander Gardner manages studio.
Joins Washington Art Association.
1859 Opens new studio at 643 Bleecker Street, near corner of Broadway.
1860 Opens fourth and last New York studio at 785 Broadway, near Tenth Street, and calls it the National Portrait Gallery.
Photographs presidential candidates, including Stephen A. Douglas and Abraham Lincoln.
Photographs the first Japanese delegation of ambassadors to visit the United States.
Photographs Edward, the Prince of Wales, and his entourage, the first British royalty to visit America.
1861 Gardner purchases four carte-de-visite cameras for Washington studio.
E. & H. T. Anthony begin to publish Brady carte-de-visite portraits on large scale.
Makes inaugural portrait of Abraham Lincoln in Washington studio.
Attempts, unsuccessfully, to photograph Battle of Bull Run.
1862 Alexander Gardner serves as George B. McClellan's official photographer while continuing to work for Mathew Brady.
Brady exhibits Gardner's photographs made after the Battle of Antietam; copies are published in Harper's Weekly.
1863 Gardner opens his own studio at 511 Seventh Street, N.W., in Washington.
1863 Both Gardner and Brady photograph the battlefields of Gettysburg, making radically different pictures of the historic site.
Andrew Burgess, a longtime employee, becomes Brady's partner.
1864 Brady assists the Gentleman's Committee on the Fine Arts for the Metropolitan Fair, organized to raise funds for the United States Sanitary Commission.
Photographs Ulysses S. Grant at Cold Harbor, Virginia.
Sells half interest in Washington gallery to James Gibson, his manager.
Sends Andrew Burgess to Mexico City to record war between Benito Ju rez and Emperor Maximilian.
1865 Photographs Robert E. Lee in Richmond, days after the surrender at Appomattox.
Photographs Lincoln's funeral procession.
Collaborates with James Bachelder and Alonzo Chappel to create the painting The Last Hours of Lincoln.
1866 Exhibits photographs at the New-York Historical Society, and offers to sell his collection for permanent display.
1868 Financial troubles accelerate. Washington gallery sold at auction to pay debts.
Brady buys back his business, and begins suit against James Gibson to recover funds lost due to Gibson's mismanagement of studio.
Photographs many official groups and delegations in Washington, including the committee to impeach President Andrew Johnson, the Ute tribal treaty delegation, and the All-England cricket team.
New Washington studio address is 625-627 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
1871 Attempts to sell collection of negatives and prints to the United States government.
Photographs J. H. Rainey, first African American member of the House of Representatives.
1872 Photographs Red Cloud and his warriors in Washington.
1873 Files for bankruptcy.
1875 Receives $25,000 from Congress for title to his collection of negatives and prints.
1881 Sells oil portraits of John C. Calhoun, Henry Clay, and Daniel Webster to the United States government.
Closes studio at 625-627 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
1882 Studio at 450 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
1883 Studio at 1113 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
1887 Juliette Handy Brady dies.
1889 Studio at 1833 Fourteenth Street, N.W.
1890 Studio at Thirteenth Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
1893 Studio at 1107 F Street, N.W
1894 Studio at 494 Maryland Avenue, S.W., home of nephew Levin Handy.
1895 Breaks leg when struck by a horsecar in Washington.
Moves to New York.
Begins preparations for illustrated lecture based on his photographs of the Civil War.
Enters Presbyterian Hospital, New York City.
1896 Dies in New York City.
Buried in Congressional Cemetery, Washington D.C.
Past Exhibitions | National Portrait Gallery Home
|