This daguerreotype is a copy of a portrait painting of Eliphaz Chapman. A note pinned to the inside case cover reads, ”Eliphaz Chapman, father of Robert A. Chapman.”

Daguerreotype portraits and painted portraits had an interesting relationship in the mid-19th century. Many portraits painters used daguerreotypes as a basis for their work.

Emerson is quoted in Beaumont Newhall's The Daguerretype in America as writing: "'Tis certain that the Daguerreotype is the true Republican style of painting. The artist stands aside and lets you paint yourself."