Was the Prophet Joseph Smith ever photographed?
Folk traditions from both The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints maintain he was. But until recently archivists have not been able to determine whether an early daguerreotype image resembling the Prophet is really him.During a symposium sponsored by the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University Tuesday night, Ronald E. Romig, archivist for the RLDS Church, focused on the likelihood that the photographic image could be that of the Prophet.
The daguerreotype, circa 1843, shows a youthful-looking man with deep-set eyes, high cheekbones and a narrowing nose, all characteristics of Joseph Smith.
"How does it compare with other images of Joseph Smith? Sixteen individualized points are quite close, making it between 85 and 90 percent sure the daguerreotype is of Joseph Smith," Romig said.
However, said Romig, that is still a subject of controversy. Through his investigations, local historian Ephraim Hatch has concluded it is not Joseph Smith.
Still, because the likeness is so close to the descriptions of Joseph Smith, the RLDS Church has turned to the University of Illinois at Chicago for help. Romig said a researcher in the university's department of biomedical visualization is using information from the daguerreotype, death masks, other images as well as the Joseph Smith's skull, which is in the possession of the RLDS Church, to generate, via computer, a three-dimensional image of the Prophet.
"These computer images could definitely confirm it is not Joseph or give us reason to believe it is," Romig said.
That same researcher's latest project determined an early photographic image to be that of Abraham Lincoln, one of the earliest images found of the president.
Based on the assumption that there are only three or four paintings of the Prophet made during his lifetime and that all other paintings are created from those images, Romig highlighted several renditions of the Prophet held by both churches' archives.
Romig also gave a slide presentation on paintings and early images of the Prophet in everything from wax to wood carvings. He also showed oil paintings of the Prophet's wife, Emma Smith, and several other leaders of the early church.
The similarity in the paintings suggests a series of portraits was done of early leaders and their wives. These paintings were to have hung in the Kirtland Temple, Romig said. None of the pictures are signed, and historians know little of the early artist.
"As the church became established in Nauvoo, the arts flourished," Romig said. "Relatively little is appreciated of the visual arts of the early church."
Images from the LDS Church used in Romig's presentation are currently on display as part of the Martyrdom Exhibit at the Church History Museum in Salt Lake City.