4/2025 The Daguerreotype Portrait of Priest Josef Klein

Our museum is proud to showcase a truly unique artifact – a daguerreotype featuring the portrait of Priest Josef Klein. This rare piece of history not only reveals the face of an important figure but also serves as a reminder of the pioneering era of photography.

Josef Klein was born in 1811 in the village of Obora near Ostroměř and dedicated his entire life to his spiritual service in this region. Together with his brother Jan, also a priest, he decided to donate their family estate to charitable causes after their parents’ passing. They transformed their ancestral farm into a convent for the Sisters of Mercy, which served as both a home for the nuns and a school focused on teaching women's crafts. Josef Klein passed away in 1892 and was laid to rest in Chomutice.

Portraits of both brothers are preserved in our museum’s collection, yet little is known about the origins of Josef Klein’s daguerreotype. The studio where it was taken remains a mystery, as does the exact date of its creation. However, based on the photographic technique, we can roughly place it in the 1850s.

What we do know, however, is how this valuable artifact found its way into our museum. Josef Klein was closely related to Father Otakar Hruška (1869–1935), a native of Železný Brod and a significant church dignitary. Toward the end of his life, Hruška donated his extensive art collection to his hometown, and among the hundreds of items was this very daguerreotype. The Klein brothers were his uncles, making their portraits a natural part of this treasured collection.

What is a Daguerreotype?
The daguerreotype was the first commercially available photographic technique, introduced in 1839 by Louis Daguerre. The image was created on a polished copper plate coated with a layer of silver, exposed to light, and then chemically developed. The result was a detailed and sharp image with delicate tones, but without the possibility of reproduction—making each daguerreotype truly unique.

If you are fascinated by this technique, we recommend exploring the extensive database of European daguerreotypes at www.daguerreobase.org, where you can discover more captivating examples of this early photographic method.