A fine early example of a hand aquatint engraving by T. Doney of New York which absolutely captures the photographicness of the daguerreotype by Anthony Edwards & Co.

Doney worked continuously for The Democratic Review, making 29 mezzotints, and The American Review, another monthly, making 12 mezzotints, until about 1851 when he suddenly stopped and disappeared from view. Doney had begun working with Edward Anthony in about 1844, producing mezzotints from Anthony’s daguerreotypes of famous people. In 1846, after four years of effort, Anthony published the large mezzotint by Doney entitled, The United States Senate Chamber, with over one hundred likenesses based on daguerreotypes made by the Anthony studio.

Doney’s plates exhibit an astonishingly photographic character, and many have wondered whether he might have employed some etching technique involving the daguerreotype plate directly- However, this is unlikely. [1]