The Oldest Masonic Photo ? A Fascinating Masonic Daguerreotype
which he was the life and soul . In 1830 , the documents of “ La Franche Cordialité ” specify that Tailliez was “ coming from l ’ Heureuse Reunion ”. “ L ’ Heureuse Réunion ” was the lodge of Saint Omer in Napoleonic times ; it was created in 1801 , but it had to interrupt its activity in 1813 . A review of his file — unfortunately rather incomplete — shows that it was there that Tailliez must have been initiated and received all his degrees up to that of Rose-Croix between 1809 and 1813 . His regalia , as they appear in the photograph of 1850 — apron , collar and jewel of Rose-Croix — probably date back to his former masonic life , at the end of the first Empire . The collar , and its beautiful rhinestone jewel of Rose- Croix are very clearly reproduced . The apron is more difficult to identify . Close scrutiny seems to reveal a large compass and a bridge , which might mean that it was a “ tablier aux quatre Ordres ” ( apron of the four orders ), i . e . an apron bearing the symbols of the four higher degrees of the French Rite ( Elect , Scots Master , Knight of the East , Rose-Croix ).
The magic of the daguerreotype thus allows us to gaze at the photograph of a man who was young during the Revolution , an adolescent in 1789 — he was 20 years old in 1796 — and initiated under the first Empire . He could remember the Restoration , King Louis- Philippe , the 2 nd Republic before passing away just before Napoleon III ’ s coup d ’ état . This is the photograph of a man who lived in the 18 th century ! Freemasonry took such a place in his life that his relatives and friends decorated him with the regalia of the order for his last journey .
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