Keeping memories alive - In 1864, the American daguerreotypist Marcus Aurelius Root summarized the guiding principle of the still young art of portrait photography. Until the mid-19th century, this principle was often associated with miniature painting in North America. This served as an important material aesthetic and iconographic model for memory and mourning photography. However, photography was able to assert itself decisively against painting due to its higher image sharpness and the impression of the immediate presence of the portrayed subjects. Patrizia Munforte explores the interrelationships between portrait photography and painting in North American visual culture after 1800 in her book.