Hyrum Smith

Above is a composite photographic image of Hyrum Smith based on anatomical and historical data available after years of research.

For the last several years as we have been studying Joseph Smith’s and Oliver Cowdery’s physical appearances. We have had artistic rendering of each of these created by Ken Corbett.  During this time we have wanted to create an image of Hyrum Smith that is as historically and anatomically accurate to accompany these other portraits. To date there has not been a Hyrum Smith photograph come to light to paint from. The Church does however, have an alleged daguerreotype of Hyrum but we have proven it is not him. (See figure 1 below)
We have therefore spent the last year creating an image of Hyrum for Ken Corbett an LDS artist to paint from.

Figure 1 On the left is the alleged Hyrum daguerreotype which has a resemblance to the Lewis Ramsey painting of Hyrum on the right. The alleged daguerreotype could not be Hyrum however because the clothing is 1850’s era clothing. Hyrum died in 1844.

In June of 1860, Joseph F. and Samuel H. B. traveled to Nauvoo, where Joseph F. said, ‘"I could pick out nearly every spot that I had known in childhood." They stopped in front of Hyrum Smith's old home “and looked at the Office, the Barn, and the little Brick Out house where I shut myself up to keep from going to prison as I supposed." At the Prophet Joseph's home they found Joseph Smith III, who "shook us warmly by the hand and I think felt unfeigned pleasure at seeing us. . . . After chatting a few minutes we went over to the mansion, where we found Frederick and Allicksander (Alexander) who greeted us cordially as did Joseph. . . After dinner Frederick took us in to his mother (Emma Smith Bidamon). She appeared to have forgotten Samuel but me she said she would have known anywhere because I looked so much like father (Hyrum)!! " Later, Frederick and Alexander took their Utah cousins to the temple ruins, the old Masonic hall, and the homes of Heber C. Kimball and Brigham Young.’

Considering the above statement from Emma, We decided to try and find a photograph of Joseph F. Smith around this time period. Joseph F. would have been 22 years old at this point. We have other statements however which state that when Joseph F. was between 25 to 30 years old he looked more like his Uncle Joseph. It therefore became important for us to find a photograph of Joseph F. before he was 25 years of age. Searching through the Church’s pictorial collection an image was located of Joseph F. that dated to about 1858. (figure 2) 

Figure 2 Figure 3

The clarity of this image left something to be desired, and discovering that it was not the original we began to search for it in other collections. To our surprise one day we came across the original daguerreotype of Joseph F. from this time period in the University of Utah’s archives collection. (figure 3)  This original image is much clearer and seemed to be the right image to use to create Hyrum’s image from.

As can be seen above the original daguerreotype, figure 3, is a mirror or negative image of how Joseph F. would have appeared. To create a positive image of Hyrum the image must be reversed. At this point we believed we were ready to start creating a new historical and anatomical image of Hyrum Smith.

We started by investigating how accurately Hyrum’s death mask portrayed him. Other scholars and we have proven that Joseph’s death mask is very accurate in portraying his features and most have assumed that Hyrum’s mask should also accurately portray his features. This however is not the case. Journal accounts of those preparing the bodies of Joseph and Hyrum for viewing and burial indicate that Hyrum’s face was very swollen and as time went on through the viewing of the bodies the next day he was nearly unrecognizable. This swelling to the face would have to be dealt with as the death mask of Hyrum was made during the time that these journal entries were recorded. The anatomical ratio’s between feature on the face would still be correct, we would just have to reduce the swelling in features of the face to their original state.

We began by doing a hard overlay of Hyrum’s death mask over the face of Joseph F. (Figure 4). After this we adjusted the transparency of the mask so we could see Joseph F.’s features under Hyrum’s death mask. we found that the ratio’s and distances of Joseph F.’s features and Hyrum’s were almost identical. (Figure 5) Emma Smith was right; Hyrum and Joseph F.’s facial structure were very similar.

Figure 4 Figure 5

Hopeful that this process could work we began to do an in-depth study of all the images of Hyrum painted during his lifetime. This would give us clues as to how to refine the overlay we had done and add significant features to the face to make it as accurate as possible. Figures 6 through 11 are the images that we have located of Hyrum that were most likely executed during his lifetime.

Figure 6 Figure 7 Figure 8

Figure 9 Figure 10 Figure 11

Figure 6 is from an unknown artist, but is believed to be painted from the Kirtland Era and hung in the Temple in Kirtland. This would have been from when Hyrum was in his mid-thirties. This is not the time frame which weI wanted to portray Hyrum from, so this image did little from this study. However the eye color and hair color and texture should be noted. Hyrum had blue eyes like his brothers Joseph and William.

Figure 12

His hair color was a darker brown with a hint of auburn in it. We do have a lock of Hyrum’s hair that is in the Church Museum of History and Art. (Figure 12) This hair lock will be used for the proposed painting.
It is believed that figure 7 was executed by David Rogers in September of 1842 while Hyrum was in Nauvoo. Brigham Young was said to have told two French artists that these portraits of Hyrum and Joseph were “the truest delineations of the features of those distinguished individuals.” We paid particular attention to the details from this painting of Hyrum. Figures 8 through 10 were drawn by Sutcliffe Maudsley in Nauvoo from 1842 until 1844. Maudsley traced the profile of Hyrum for these images and these images were also scrutinized very heavily. (Figure 11) is from a Sarnoy and Majors lithograph in 1847, yet some believe that is was made from a daguerreotype of Joseph and Hyrum. It was studied in depth also.

Five main items were gleaned or taken from all of these images. First, Hyrum had a large mole on his right check, or our left as you look at him. Second, Hyrum had long side burns the last several years of his life. Third, his hair was wavy to curly in appearance, with two large curls near his temples. Fourth, he had begun to age and had several wrinkle lines showing on his brow and checks. Fifth, his eye brows were always portrayed very thin and shapely. Each of these items was then added in a photo editing program to the base image of Joseph F. Smith. (Figure 13)

Figure 13 Figure 14

We also had access to the skull photographs and line drawings of Joseph and Hyrum from when the bodies were exhumed in the 1920’s. We were able to use Hyrum’s skull to determine the outside contour lines of the head. At this point we had to take into consideration the swelling in the face of the death mask. There is no way of knowing how much swelling was present. We therefore decided to rely on Emma’s comment that Joseph F. at age 22 looked very much like his father Hyrum, and that we would allow his face to govern the contour lines of each feature of the face. We reduced the transparency on the mask to allow 40% of Joseph F. to show through while retaining 60% of Hyrum’s features. While this reduced the swelling in the face it also reduced the age we were tying to portray of Hyrum. We wanted this image to be from Hyrum’s Nauvoo years as the mature Patriarch of the Church. We therefore painted in some slight wrinkles in the forehead and the cheeks. (Figure 14)

Figure 15

At this point we decided to do a few side by side comparisons of the newly created image and the ones painted during Hyrum’s life. (Figures 15 and 16) After these comparisons we were very satisfied that we had a facial image that was as close to Hyrum in the 1840’s as we would ever get.

Figure 16

The image was now anatomically correct, but to be historically accurate we needed to make sure the clothing was adjusted. As mentioned earlier, the base image of Joseph F. Smith is from about 1858. In the 1850’s the collars on men’s shirts were turned down and the coats and vests were not as contoured to the body. We would not be able to correct all of these items on the image, but determined to at least try. We were able to put an upturned collar on the image, as was common and popular in the 1840’s. We were also able to slightly contour the sleeves on the jacket and thin the lapels on the coat. (Figure 17) All in all we now had a composite image of Hyrum that was the most historically and anatomically accurate of any to date. The final touches of bringing it to life with color tones and slight changes in clothing could now be accomplished by an artist. Two final items will be used in the painting to make this an authentic painting of Hyrum. The vest jacket of Hyrum Smith owned by Elred G. Smith will be used to create the detail and the color of the vest wore in the painting. (Figure 18) And Hyrum’s cane owned by Mark L. McConkie will be placed in his hands instead of the whip that Joseph F. is holding. (Figure 19)

Figure 17 Figure 18

Figure 6

Hyrum Smith Figure 22