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| D01-82. FABULOUS TOGETHER! He was ridiculously handsome and she was a down home beauty, who obviously was whisked away by his great manners and an aggressive courtship that landed them in the city lights. I mean really folks, where else could this smashing couple have been daguerreotyped in half plate size except in a cosmopolitan area. Since the plate was purchased by a collector 40 years ago in New York City I would "suggest without proofs" that they might have been taken somewhere along Broadway in the late 1840s. Let me point out that after perfect plate preparation was completed, the professional operator carefully instructed his clients where to sit inside his spacious studio. She, wearing what had to have been one of the all time most magnificent dresses of the season, was placed on an unseen seat. He, with those intense black eyes staring into the lens, casually placed one hand on his thigh and leaned left towards his true love. When I opened their complete plain black leather push button case for the first time I was astounded by their body language and the fact that the gentleman grasped the side of his small wooden chair to support himself. The blue-eyed mature belle also watched the daguerreotypist while tilting her head slightly towards her partner and smiling while the exposure was executed. As most of you know, I was a professional photographer for many years and had the opportunity to shoot portraits of my corporate clients. I used natural lighting (as in all daguerreotypes), high intensity strobes and a combination of both sources. I NEVER have seen in a dag likeness the incredible difference of illumination when two people sat next to each other. She received nearly direct, full frontal diffused sunlight that softened her round face and presented her elegant costume so wonderfully. His face and suit were absolutely sculpted by bold three-dimensional Rembrandt style light. Such a brilliant silvery resealed interpretation of a well-matched man and woman. There are bold layers of patina encroaching on the cameraman's customers and a few specks and flecks. I have kept this triumphant piece in the bank since 2001. The next owner will surely place it near the top of his/her collection of portraits. $5,850 |
