Okay I think all of those glowing oil-on-canvas depictions of Joseph Smith, Jr. were, you know, how do I put this politely...fanciful? I mean...
The historian's first impression was that the man staring at him from the 1844 metal daguerreotype was not Mormonism's founder, Joseph Smith.
To Lachlan Mackay, an apostle with the Community of Christ (formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) and Smith's great-great-great-grandson, the image did not seem to match the view of the Mormon prophet depicted in an 1842 oil portrait that had been circulating since the 19th century. The eyes were more sunken than in the painting. The eyebrows were more rounded and the lips less full. ...
"This isn't surprising since Emma Smith herself [Smith's wife] didn't think the portrait was a good likeness of her husband," Mackay said in an interview from his home in Nauvoo, Ill., "and that a good portrait of him couldn't be painted because his countenance was changing all the time."
There's definitely some...differences at play here.
I'll be honest, the painting of Smith looks more like the Delapierre portrait of a young Thomas Jefferson...
...while the photo makes him look more like, I dunno, Franklin Pierce:
I'm not saying he's a bad-looking guy. I'm just saying the portrait is, you know...better. That's all.
P.S. Now check out our latest video 👇
