When Martin Van Buren sat for this daguerreotype in the mid-1850s, he was long retired from politics but nevertheless interested in the issues of the day. At this moment he was deeply disturbed with the South's push to extend slavery westward.

The maker of this image, Mathew Brady, became best known for the remarkable pictorial record that he and his field assistants made of the Civil War. In the 1850s, however, his reputation rested on his studio portraits, and his New York gallery was a much-visited site where people came to see his likenesses of America's current notables, including former President Van Buren.

Mathew Brady (1823-1896)
Daguerreotype, circa 1856
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
NPG.76.104

Enlarged image

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