Carleton Watkins Valparaíso 1850--New Directions
photography. Moreover, there is no record that Helsby made outdoor views before acquiring the Vance y Cia. studio in mid-1850.
Figure 2 above is the earliest outdoor view that can be securely credited to Helsby and is known only through an engraving published in the Illustrated London News on January 22, 1852. The source for the engraving was made on October 28, 1851, and according to the caption showed the “Insurrection in Chile—Contest between the governments troops and insurgents, in the Plaza de la Municipalidad, Valparaíso.”[15] Figure 3 above is the only surviving daguerreotype associated with Helsby that was made in the field and is believed by Hernán Rodríguez Villegas[16] to have been created in 1852 by Helsby in Santiago, the capital of Chile, located seventy-five miles (120 km) from Valparaíso. With the exception of figure 3, all other outdoor daguerreotype views credited to Helsby are known only through engravings and some are known only through written descriptions.
The compositional elements of figures 2 and 3 above are undistinguished however, they have military subject matter in common. Moreover, the two military images are quite different in overall concept of figures 4 and 5 above, but rather have much in common compositionally and subject-wise with figures 6-8 and 12-13 below. It appears that Helsby was ahead of his time in commercially exploiting daguerreotypes as sources for publishers. He could have worked as an agent for daguerreotypes made by others that became the sources for published engravings. Helsby is believed to have been a mentor to Carleton and could have pointed Carleton to the potential of making outdoor views.
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Table III Daguerreotypes and Engraving Made in Valparaíso Associated with Carleton Watkins A. Attributed to Carleton Watkins. View Looking Southeast from Above Bonded Warehouses. Whole plate daguerreotype, 1852. Collection J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles [Fig. 6]. B. Attributed to Carleton Watkins. View Looking Southeast from Above Bonded Warehouses. Whole plate daguerreotype, 1852. Made the same day and from the same position as Fig 6. Collection Archive of Modern Conflict, Toronto, formerly Matthew Isenburg Collection [Fig. 7]. C. Source daguerreotypes attributed to Carleton Watkins. Multi-part Panorama of Santiago. Lithograph, source daguerreotypes lost, 1852 [Fig. 8]. D. Maker of source daguerreotype unknown, possibly Carleton Watkins. Araucanian Chief. Lithograph, source daguerreotype lost, 1852 [Fig. 9]. E. Attributed to Carleton Watkins, View near Copiapó. Half-plate daguerreotype. J. Paul Getty Museum [Fig. 10]. F. Attributed to Carleton Watkins. Hardware Merchant, Copiapó. Whole plate daguerreotype. Collection Museo Histórico Nacional, Santiago [Fig. 11].
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