Before & After - People Born in the 1700s

We have many photographs of people born in the 1700s, but what did they look like when they were young?
This video features 18th century paintings of people who were photographed in the mid-1800s. The oldest of these paintings goes back to 1776; if anyone knows of earlier examples please let me know.
See also:
Part 2 -
• Before & After - Peopl...
Before & After - People in Early Photography -
• Before & After - Peopl...
• Before & After - Peopl...
Notes -
1:00 Custis was Washington's step-grandson and adoptive son
There probably isn't enough material to make more parts, however I would like to mention Stephen Lushington (1782 - 1873), painted in July 1789:
en.wikipedia.o...
and photographed in the 1860s or 1870s:
www.npg.org.uk...
Sources -
Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh (1776 - 1857):
en.wikipedia.o...
commons.wikime...
commons.wikime...
John Quincy Adams (1767 - 1849):
en.wikipedia.o...
Alexander von Humboldt (1769 - 1859):
en.wikipedia.o...
commons.wikime...
George W. P. Custis (1781 - 1857):
en.wikipedia.o...
www.loc.gov/pi...
en.wikipedia.o...
Mary Russell Mitford (1787 - 1855):
en.wikipedia.o...
talbot.bodleia...
www.agefotosto...
www.hampshirec...
Landgravine Auguste of Hesse-Homburg (1776 - 1871)
en.wikipedia.o...
commons.wikime...
commons.wikime...
Maria Edgeworth (1768 - 1849):
en.wikipedia.o...
commons.wikime...
commons.wikime...
Rembrandt Peale (1778 - 1860):
en.wikipedia.o...
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (1769 - 1852):
en.wikipedia.o...
commons.wikime...
commons.wikime...
Dolley Madison (1768 - 1849):
en.wikipedia.o...
J. M. W. Turner (1775 - 1851):
en.wikipedia.o...
en.wikipedia.o...)
/ 1546286992172866
Jean-Gabriel Eynard (1775 - 1863):
en.wikipedia.o...
bge-geneve.ch/...
bge-geneve.ch/...
Friedrich von Schelling (1775 - 1854):
en.wikipedia.o...
commons.wikime...
www.europeana....
Music -
23843807 - O Holy Night (Solo Piano)
pixabay.com/mu...
Tags: Earliest born person photographed, earliest born people photographed, 1700s, 1790s, 1780s, portrait, 18th century, early photography, worlds oldest photos, 1800s photos, Victorian era, daguerreotype

[@arago8649]

See also other Before & After videos: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gIG1XqyFfdKXq7c

[@justme8837]

I always wondered how close to the real persons looks paintings were but watching this has shown me that they were pretty spot on. Thank you for sharing.

[@arago8649]

Thanks for watching!

[@funtimes8296]

The one dude legit looks like his dad from the painting in the real photo

[@maxb4074]

Amazingly accurate paintings. One woman has a cleft in her chin in the paintiing and sure enough there it is in the photo.

[@Ganpignanus]

i noted the same thing. the paintings are very well done.

[@SanthoshSandy1991]

So you are saying Beethoven was indeed angry at the painter

[@TheStockwell]

It's always disappointed me that Beethoven died at age 56 in 1827. Franz Schubert died the next year, at age 31. If they'd hung around for another dozen or so years, we might've had daguerreotypes of them.

[@enriquefau8974]

At least we got Chopin

[@TheStockwell]

@@enriquefau8974 Twice! Plus, a few fakes. There is also film footage of Bach, but experts say the noise from overhead aircraft makes it impossible to identify the work he's playing. Darn! 🤔

[@Urlocallordandsavior]

There's also a photograph of Mozart's child, Karl Thomas Mozart (b. 1784), who was a composer himself.

[@barrymoore4470]

Beethoven and Schubert did live into the era of photography (Niepce's work in heliography), though they didn't know it, and of course no photographic process at the time could have recorded the likeness of a living human being.

[@TheStockwell]

@@barrymoore4470 Yes, those exposures lasting several days using Nicephore Niepce's methods would've made a portrait session unattractive to most people. Selfies? Not likely! 😳 The reproductions of the daguerreotype of Karl Thomas Mozart don't look good, more like artistic renderings based on a now-lost dagurreotype. Best wishes from Vermont ❄️💙❄️

[@JackReynolds-w7g]

When I look into the face and eyes of someone from 250 plus years ago, I realize so well that history is so much more than a written page.

[@shnook8484]

This makes me realize how incredible those painters were. They really captured the likeness of their subjects, as they were easily recognizable as adults of their painted forms in the photographs decades later.

[@carolineok11]

I was about to write the very same thing 😊

[@lilMissF0F0]

My thoughts exactly

[@trillium2917]

As was I

[@chrisdiegelmann9159]

But not all of them.

[@Dominik40301]

Yes, but you can see how some details are way too different, like mouth, check on 2:52 how person has short mouth (from one edge to another), while when he is older it looks like twice the leght. Yes, people change with age, they become more wider in face, but to increase mouth width by double?

[@04straw]

This was fascinating! I've always wondered if portraits of figures in history were accurate. Many appeared to be so. Thank you for sharing this!

[@arago8649]

Thanks for watching!

[@spaghettiking7312]

It's unbelievable how much the world can change only in a few generations.

[@iancavon7125]

Even quicker now. In the 1980s no everyday person would imagine something like the internet, today's teenagers can't imagine life without it. To them, it is as if someone who grew up without a smartphone, or even mobile phone in general, could as well have been born shortly after WW2. They never gave much thought to how recent those long since taken-for-granted things actually are.

[@MrViters]

​@@iancavon7125​@iancavon7125 I apolgise if I seem to have taken this personally, but as a teenager, the very fascination of history and how the world has changed led me to this video. We do take our time to think about living in the modern day :)

[@creepydoll2872]

This is so cool. Thank you for making this video. Sometimes I wish photography was around in the 1700s so we could see how those beautiful 18th century gowns looked being worn. I’m glad we can see them in museums at least.

[@arago8649]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@maryclark1049]

Thatlast guy really looked like his younger portrait more than the rest. Its amazing to think of how they lived long enough to be photgraphed.

[@barbarajolley6578]

Fascinating:). I notice that in the last 4 paintings the likeness of the people painted was captured extremely well. The features of the people in both artworks (painting and photograph) are very similar. In particular, Turner's self-portrait is amazing:). The earlier paintings differ from the photographs so much that they might as well be of different people. That is due to the custom in 18th century paintings to "improve" the features of the person painted.

[@arago8649]

Its speculated that Turner's photo was intentionally similar to his c. 1799 self-portrait

[@djdissi]

I didn't know Turner was such a handsome boy!

[@ahassen1236]

The ability to photograph, no matter how early or primitive in the mid 19th century - oh what an invention!

[@kevincaldwell9700]

George W. P. Custis was the step-grandson of George Washington. His father, John Parke Custis was Washington's stepson.

[@arago8649]

My bad. George W. P. Custis was raised by George Washington.

[@lesaber251]

AND.. in the painting he's sporting a mullet.

[@highcotton63664]

That makes more sense, I was a bit confused by that one

[@TOP5InstantRegret]

like bro

[@brigittasliwinski8327]

The first description is actually incorrect. Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester was George III’s fourth daughter and eleventh child, but not the youngest. George III’s youngest child was actually Princess Amelia, who died in 1810.

[@silvertbird1]

This is extremely interesting! Several of the earlier portraits matched up quite well with the later photographs, despite the passage of many years.

[@Paul-te8mz]

Absolutely stunning. Thank you for your time in undertaking and presenting this excellent research.

[@arago8649]

Thanks for watching!

[@jakecavendish3470]

Imagine the irony of wigs going out of fashion at the point you go bald

[@fokkerd3red618]

I read that head lice was a issue and people cut there hair deliberately to minimize this problem and then opted to where a wig. I'm sure this wasn't the case for everyone, but they did where wigs for more than just looks.

[@jow6845]

Just very happy to have a studio portrait of my darling Grandmother taken when she was five years-old, in 1894 🌟

[@stephenannese8228]

The portraits are amazing,....you can see the same face in their old age,..artists were really good back then.

[@kevindoran9389]

And they would have known people who were born in the 1600s.

[@monotheist..]

true

[@brianp6682]

whats so sad to me is men in the late 1700s wore colorful and stylish clothes in brilliant colors, but by the time photography was invented, mens style had changed to the dull, drab look of head to toe black. i dont think ive ever seen super early photos of men actually wearing clothes in the style of the late 1700s. are there any?

[@arago8649]

There is Martin Joseph Routh, wearing an old wig. Best bet would be an old revolutionary war vet wearing his old clothes. I saw some but I cant remember them anymore. There are also some early photographs of tricornes, such as George Fishley (1760 - 1850) or Greinbülher (b. 1761), wine official from Ribeauville, France: qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-5064a0595beeb1075b888842c37a6b0a-lq

[@arago8649]

John Battin (1752 - 1852), a British-born veteran of the American revolution, was photographed wearing typical 18th century stockings: redcoat76.blogspot.com/2014/07/john-battin-17th-light-dragoons-is.html

[@SDArgo_FoC]

I remember there was one with a vest and coat (late 1700s look), but it’s still somewhat influenced by later times. Check William B Munson’s daguerreotype

[@rhysnichols8608]

The most fascinating photographs for me are shots of Napoleons veterans in their old uniforms taken in the 1850s, but which time they were all old men.

[@manwithtwoeyes6911]

1:11 just wow. Im looking at a REAL picture of a man who has seen and personally known George Washington.

[@johannekjeldsen1043]

Nor James Madison nor any other founding fathers from 1776 were photographed in old age. Madison died in 1836. The closest we can get is Madison's wife, Dolly, who was daguerreotyped in the 1840s. Madison is reckoned as one of the founding fathers, although he never signed the famous Declaration of Independence.

[@Urlocallordandsavior]

John Armstrong Jr. is probably the closest (alongside Albert Gallatin and John Quincy Adams). Armstrong was a member of the Continental Congress in the late 1780s (the only member of the Continental Congress to be photographed), he also served in the Revolution (b. 1758), close to James Monroe's (b. 1759) and Alexander Hamilton's (b. 1755 or 1757) ages.

[@mahasamana]

like it, how the old lady at 1:54 looking at her younger self

[@ibrahimsulaiman9047]

What a wonderful video! Even the 1700s don't seem so distant when carried on a human face.

[@Ganpignanus]

fascinating. wonderful likenesses. i like the styling of the 1700s better than the 1800s. But the 1800s is still better than today.

[@sabrinanewland9982]

Absolutely loved this… the painters were pretty on the mark!

[@johnathanryan2117]

Incredible, showing the talent of some of these artists in the late 18th century capturing their subject superbly. " Time, that nowty owd codger, keeps nudging us on to decay" ( Old Lancashire ( England) expression) Beautifully done

[@donaquilaschannel2890]

It’s amazing to look at their younger portraits; compared to their photos it’s a whole new world.

[@deealex1402]

very cool. some of the paintings were very good. :) love to see real faces from so long ago. fascinating

[@arago8649]

Thanks

[@williamfagan7835]

Maria Edgeworth, born in 1768 described the experience of being photographed in 1841, at the age of 73, as follows: "11, Gloucester Place, 23 May 1841. Lestock came with me to breakfast here at 8 0′ clock and then he took Honora and Captain Beaufort and me to the Polytechnic and we all had our likenesses taken and I will tell you no more lest I should some way or other cause you disappointment. For my own part my object is secure for I have done my dear what you wished. It is a wonderful mysterious operation. You are taken from one room into another up stairs and down and you see various people whispering and hear them in neighbouring passages and rooms unseen and the whole apparatus and stool on high platform under a glass dome casting a snapdragon blue light making all look like spectres and the men in black gliding about like etc. I have not time to tell you more of that." She was photographed (had her 'likeness taken' in the words of that time) by Richard Beard who was the holder of the daguerreotype licence (a long story to explain why) for England. Her younger half brother Michael Pakenham Edgeworth, who was born in 1812 and was thus 44 years her junior, took photographs in the 1840s using the calotype method of Fox Talbot. One of Maria's best friends was Kitty Pakenham who was the wife of the Duke of Wellington. The Captain Beaufort mentioned above was Francis Beaufort, born in Ireland in 1774, who was the creator of the Beaufort Wind Scale. Maria was a successful author, with her best known work being 'Castle Rackrent'. Her experience as an author probably served her well as a person from the 18th Century describing what it was like to be photographed in the 19th Century.

[@whatever_it_takes6691]

The Dolley Madison photo to me is the most awe-inspiring. Wife of a founding father and one of the most recognized first ladies ever. If Jefferson could have only lived a few more years, that would be the ultimate.

[@celticlass8573]

I don't know anything about her, though the one picture with her...was it her niece?...made them both look like they had great senses of humour.

[@RedcoatsReturn]

Excellent collection my friend! 😊👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏😊 Never knew Turner was photographed 😲 Astounding indeed 👍👍😉

[@arago8649]

Thanks! Turner befriended the famous photographer Jabez Mayall, who photographed him.

[@mariemorgan7759]

The Duke of Wellington was handsome even in his old age!

[@louistavare1825]

I can't believe we managed to capture the duke of wellington

[@renamassey8276]

So fascinating! And so amazing to gaze at people who lived in the 18th century! I have to say that, whoever the artists were, they definitely captured the essence of these people--because I could tell the similarity to the photos.

[@Rockhound6165]

Seeing an actual picture of Dolly Madison is mind blowing. She rescued several paintings from the White House from when the Brits burned it during the War of 1812 including the famous unfinished portrait of George Washington.

[@jacquelinegalea2945]

Magnifique idée très émue j attendais depuis longtemps des vidéos de cette qualité merci beaucoup

[@seandelap8587]

This is truly fascinating

[@nickcurran3105]

Frenchman Nicéphore Niépce was a brilliant inventor. In he 1822 created the first permanent photographic image. In 1807 he and his brother also developed, built, and patented an internal combustion engine that powered a boat on the Saône River. They also developed fuel injection.

[@RafaelLima-jg3pm]

Amazing. Beautiful to see

[@romandybala]

What is amazing is how accurate the painters were .You can see the features so clearly in the fotos.

[@Urlocallordandsavior]

Excellent work! I'll also add in Albert Gallatin, King Louis Philippe of France, his wife Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily, Princess Caroline of Denmark, and William I of Württemberg (his painting from his youth is undated but pretty likely c. 1800 at latest)

[@arago8649]

Thanks! I'll probably make a part 2

[@Urlocallordandsavior]

@@arago8649 No problem! One fairly effective method is to look at the children, spouse, cousin, parents, etc... of a notable or prominent person from that time period. That's what I did.

[@Urlocallordandsavior]

For some of these you may have to go to the Wikipedia pages in other languages or a quick Google search.

[@Urlocallordandsavior]

@@arago8649 A lot of these, it feels like the distance between 1800 and 1840/50 (the time when photography became widely accessible), is such a large amount of time that to have their depictions etched as children, their parents have had to have been quite important people.

[@Urlocallordandsavior]

Frederick Wilhelm III Princess Charlotte of Denmark Marie Louise Duchess of Parma Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling (the German Wiki article) Karl Thomas Mozart Bertel Thorvaldsen Infante Carlos María Isidro of Spain Infante Francisco de Paula of Spain Archduchess Clementina of Austria - (portrait c. 1798-99 by Joseph Hickel) Archduke Louis of Austria - (his family's portrait can be found on the article "1775-1795 in Western fashion", though I think Louis is the infant to the left of the infant sitting on the mother's lap considering there's 14 kids instead of 13 (16 if including 2 of his deceased children before the portrait was made), meaning that the portrait's listed date is probably wrong) Adam Jerzy Czartoryski

[@trojanette8345]

2nd Question: During any of your research have you ever come across any photographs of Lord Melbourne (1779 - 1848), QV's, 1st advisor?

[@arago8649]

Unfortunately no, I know of no daguerreotypes or accounts that he was ever photographed.

[@megacapulet6470]

Really loved watching this ,as a big fan of J.M.W.Turner i was thrilled to see his face in photograph form as i never knew one existed ,thank you.

[@arago8649]

Thanks for watching!

[@kentuckylady2990]

Remarkable. It would be easy to match painting to photograph.

[@RDX1981]

another great video ! Music in perfect . Thanks

[@JimPigMuseumOfSound]

Amazing research! This video is a treasure

[@arago8649]

Thank you!

[@ibeetellingya5683]

Fascinating! Thank you. It's amazing that photography ("daguerreotype process") was invented in 1839 but became a global fashion for upper-class and specialty portraiture by the 1840's.

[@jmfa57]

Very enjoyable, thank you!

[@mathew21686]

I’m 37, my dads mom (my nana) is still alive. Her dad was born in 1895.

[@FS-me8mj]

so he is 128 now?

[@justme8837]

@@FS-me8mj it is her grandma that is alive, I misread it as well too. Her grandma's dad was born in 1895.

[@OldsVistaCruiser]

President John Tyler (1790-1862, served as the 10th president 1841-1845) has an elderly grandson alive in 2023!

[@zaftra]

@@FS-me8mj read it again

[@tma2001]

I wish I'd asked my grandparents when they were still alive in the 1980s about the memories of their grand parents. In one case that would go back to 1815!

[@guillemedina7908]

I wanna add that a person's nose and ears get larger as they age, that's why those features appear smaller in the paintings.

[@joannastergiou145]

These photographs are amazing!!

[@juliangabrieltrinidad1135]

1:48 Switch race

[@DanDan-fu6sd]

This is brilliant. Congrats! I have tons of art books and none of them have ever made this comparison (I'm sure there are some out there). Thank you for contributing to art history.

[@arago8649]

Thanks!

[@blockmasterscott]

The difference in clothing for the guys was pretty astounding.

[@Veronica.John10-10]

You should have the captions under the photos/paintings and not just before they're compared.

[@Johnrap]

You can see that the painters were accurate, even with the decades between painting and photography.

[@iancavon7125]

Schelling's (the last guy's) portrait was best, it really shows what the photographed old man will have looked like when young.

[@PiippoErareika]

Why tf does this video have Christmas music??

[@summertimesadness7365]

to me, it sounds just like a regular soft classical piano song🤷‍♀️

[@SuperAna1954]

Amazing ❤ thank you

[@arago8649]

Glad you like it!

[@SAINTOBVIOUS]

this was great. thanks.

[@tlshaw1997]

Hello, could you please post the music credit you used? Thank you.

[@arago8649]

23843807 - O Holy Night (Solo Piano) pixabay.com/music/christmas-o-holy-night-solo-piano-436s-11788/

[@alexreid2393]

1:03 Those photos mean that George Washington must have looked like himself in that photo too. Wow. I needed this kind of confirmation.

[@TheRealGnolti]

The parallel images of G.W. Custis are striking, and I don't mean the loss of hair. The boy and the old man still share a lot of similarities, suggesting that the original portrait painter really caught his likeness.

[@anam7070]

Amazing! You should've also add Constanza Mozart Weber portrait and a picture !!

[@arago8649]

The picture you're probably referring to is unlikely to be her

[@Sasjazz]

Wow these are amazing 😮 thankyou for sharing.

[@arago8649]

Thanks for watching

[@VentiVonOsterreich]

It's an eye opener to how recent the Napoleonic Wars were that there are photos of veterans that fought in wars led by generals, many of whom were alive in paintings

[@aprilnelson8217]

This was awesome to see thank you for putting it together

[@arago8649]

Thank you for watching

[@spaghettiking7312]

Let this video show just how much the world and society changed due to the French Revolution. The world these people were born in seems in many ways unrecognisable after Napoleon's final exile.

[@brandontennyson5732]

What do you mean by that?

[@leod-sigefast]

What has the French Revolution got to do with this? You mean it influenced the change in fashion or the invention of photography??

[@spaghettiking7312]

@@leod-sigefast It influenced the change in fashion.

[@NeTxGrl]

I've wondered how accurate paintings were of historical figures. They were pretty spot on, amazing. It's incredible how the difference between a painting and a photograph brings them to life. It makes them feel real. When you have to rely on a painting, a bust and their written word it feels like a story book. Now if only some of our founding fathers could have lived long enough, Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Franklin....

[@cherylpurdue888]

Lovely photos🙂

[@TOP5InstantRegret]

*This video is an emotionally charged journey, turning past memories into a vivid reality, making my heart beat vigorously.* DO YOU AGREE WITH ME?

[@Chanticlair47]

Some of them were quite attractive as young folk!

[@Europesigma]

It’s hard to believe that some people were born with a portrait and died with a photo

[@fredvaladez3542]

I really enjoyed this. One of the most interesting videos I've ever seen.

[@deplorablecovfefe9489]

funny, my childhood pictures look nothing like me today...

[@TraitofSiNN727]

I hate to see a video in the future marking what people look like born in the 2000s.

[@misst.e.a.187]

I thought the last two really looked like their painted and photographed selves.

[@Traveler516]

Amaizing

[@nickcurran3105]

This is so fantastic

[@dennisneo1608]

You do know, all you have to do is go to an Egyptian museum and see a REAL-LIVE (ok, dead) 4000-5000-year-old pharoah!

[@tgflux]

Photography: the Great Equalizer. Within 20 years of the invention of photography, many people of lesser means were getting photographed. Before photography, just about the only people who got painted were the rich and/or titled . . . unless you were a painter yourself!

[@maureentuohy8672]

So interesting on how the portraits are recognizable as the people in the he photogrraphers.

[@stconstable]

Loved this!!

[@fawnflying4215]

Imagine how can be if it happen now:"Hey how you looks when you was very young?" and shows a drawing of youself, instead an "actual" photography.

[@lesamontgomery1546]

Just so fascinating! 🙏

[@FrecklestheHappyClow]

Excellent idea !

[@insaneone4369]

Paintings were like the first air brushed photos. They will always look better in their paintings than in their photographs. Good example is Queen Victoria.

[@arago8649]

Maria Edgeworth (at 2:11) wasn't that pleased with the realism of photography, as she wrote in 1841: “I fear you will not like any of my daguerreotype faces - I am sure I do not - the truer, the worse”

[@drips1030]

Incredible

[@fredlar9421]

1:54 She didn't change anything except the time. It's there. We just can't go back to in time. They are as live as us. Hundred years later, when our photos are reviewed.

[@helloworld0911]

Why couldn't you just call it the 18th century instead of 1700s?

[@arago8649]

Shorter title

[@04nbod]

All the earlier paintings had much better fashions.

[@28704joe]

Ah....the days before twerking.

[@mickeyholding7970]

Daquerotypes are my favorite photography. I've collected some from ebay and antique stores, my focus is photography of women.

[@arago8649]

I have some too, but they can become quite expensive

[@jefflisondra8555]

Old black and white photos are beautiful

[@KW-ey7fb]

Isn't it kinda sad that people in the 1700s (both men and women) dressed up way cooler than those in mid-1800s? I don't know why fashion gave up those really cool elements and became dull and boring.

[@Lucas-q2l5e]

True, thanks to the French Revolution 🤷‍♂️

[@rehan3600]

Styles were much more interesting in the 1700s portraits.

[@lilJennmanley]

Rembrandt Peale that guy was hot young 😂❤ they all were really handsome & sophisticated back then

[@KRW628]

FASCINATING! (Dolly Madion?!!)