“No painting of him could catch his expression, for his countenance was always changing to match his thoughts and feelings.” — Emma Smith¹

Like others of his time, Joseph Smith posed for several portraits during his life. These portraits were done entirely is Joseph's later life, with the most well-known of these portraits being done in 1842 by the artist David Rogers. A companion painting of Emma Smith was also completed by Rogers and together these portraits of the prophet and his wife were hung in the Mansion house.² Though these portraits provide Latter-day Saints with insight into what Joseph looked like, Emma is known to have stated that paintings of Joseph could not catch his constantly changing expression.¹

More recently, a daguerreotype has been discovered that some believe to be of Joseph Smith. The image was found inside a locket by Daniel Larsen, a descendant of Joseph Smith, after being stored away for 28 years. After initial research and comparison with the death mask, a nephew of Joseph Smith said, “I have become convinced that it is, in fact, Joseph." The Church issued a statement saying that "the daguerreotype and locket were created of the materials and methods appropriate to the 1840s. However, as nothing is definitively known about the locket’s history before 1992, we cannot draw a conclusion about who is pictured in the daguerreotype."^3,4,5

A daguerreotype is a photographic process that creates a detailed image on a silver-plated copper sheet without using a negative. The process involves careful preparation, exposure to light, and development with mercury, followed by fixing the image with a salt solution.⁶

1. Edwin F. Parry, Stories About Joseph Smith the Prophet (Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1834), 160

2. Anthony Sweat, Joseph Smith in the National Portrait Gallery, Religious Studies Center, BYU

3. Trent Toone, “Does an image of Joseph Smith exist? What one descendant found in a forgotten family heirloom,” Deseret News July 21, 2022

4. “The Joseph Smith Daguerreotype,” BYU-Idaho Radio, September 6, 2022

5. Peggy Fletcher Stack, “Forensic images: New research provides fresh evidence this really is a photo of Mormon founder Joseph Smith,” Salt Lake Tribune June 8, 2023

6. “The Daguerreotype Medium,” loc.gov