In 1839 Louis-Jacques Mandé Daguerre commercialized the first photographic procedure in history in Paris. The invention consisted of fixing the reflected image in a camera obscura from a copper plate covered with a silver solution. A method started by Niépce, but which was eventually known by the name of daguerreotype thanks to whoever improved and patented it.

This first technique did not allow copies to be made and to make a portrait an exposure of many minutes was required, an discomfort for the people portrayed which allows us to understand the lack of naturalness expressed by their faces.

From the Museum's extensive collection of daguerreotypes, it is possible to recognize the clothing worn by the wealthy classes in the middle of the 19th century, given that these were expensive objects that were only within their reach. Among them, two portraits stand out postmortem of children: in both cases it is a dead girl, sitting on the bed and dressed in white, one of them with a headband, which the retoucher of the image has colored red, and with a disturbing appearance of vitality.