Edgar Allan Poe's "Ultima Thule" Daguerreotype: The 1848 Portrait Shot Days After a Laudanum Overdose
On November 9, 1848, a daguerreotype that would define Edgar Allan Poe's image was captured in Providence, shortly after his suicide attempt following the rejection by Sarah Helen Whitman. A stranger escorted him to the sitting after a night of heavy drinking. Michael J. Deas, a painter, referred to it as "the image of the tragic romantic poet," while poet Hervey Allen remarked that it was likely taken "probably at the very hour when he looked the worst." The Latin title for the portrait was inspired by Poe's poem "Dream-Land." Intrigued by the technique, Poe posed for around ten daguerreotypes, calling it "the most extraordinary triumph of modern science." Although the original plate vanished around 1860, copies continued to circulate his likeness.
Key facts
- The Ultima Thule daguerreotype of Edgar Allan Poe was taken November 9, 1848, in a Providence studio
- The sitting came four days after Poe's failed suicide attempt by laudanum overdose
- Poe was brought to the studio by a stranger he had been binge-drinking with the previous night
- Sarah Helen Whitman, a widowed poet, had rejected Poe's marriage proposal before the overdose
- Whitman gave the portrait its Latin name, taken from Poe's poem "Dream-Land"
- Poe sat for perhaps ten daguerreotypes in his lifetime
- The original plate vanished around 1860 and its whereabouts remain unknown
- In an 1840 newspaper article Poe called Daguerre's process "the most important, and perhaps the most extraordinary triumph of modern science"
Entities
Artists
- Edgar Allan Poe
- Sarah Helen Whitman
- Michael J. Deas
- Hervey Allen
- Louis Daguerre
- Colin Marshall
- Iggy Pop
- Jeff Buckley
- Christopher Walken
- Marianne Faithfull
Institutions
- Open Culture
- Poetry Foundation
Locations
- Providence
- United States
- Seoul
- South Korea