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| D06-183. PHILADELPHIA SCHOOL. The intact black leather case with a familiar floral theme on the cover and a plain reverse, the understated elegant paper mat, the large size (an archivally taped half plate) and the skillfully structured pyramidal composition all indicate to me that the marvelous remembrance was taken in the city where Independence was declared about 70 years prior to their portrait's construction. Certainly the sisters would have planned in advance to visit one of the city's outstanding daguerreian firms (and there were several (the Langenheim Brothers, Marcus Root, the Collins clan and Montgomery Simons). Whomever they selected, suggested an arrangement that has certainly withstood the test of visual time and space. Seating the ladies, the daguerreotypist placed an older daughter between them, telling her to lean forward for two important reasons. First, she would remain in focus and second, by placing her hand on her mother's shoulder (most likely) the pose was tightly knitted on their plane of shining silver. Naturally, the shy younger girl didn't have to be told to lean against her mom, thus completing a tremendous diagonal dimension from lower right to the top of her cousin's head. Notice their hands. The eldest sister held her kid gloves while mother and daughter were given books. Divine light bathed the bevy of beautiful females in a style that would have made Rembrandt very proud. Sensational three-dimensional depth and wide ranging mid-tones are magnificent. I can only wonder how the finished masterwork appeared when it was handed to the mothers for their inspection. Sometime in the past, an unknown hand cleaned the surface and left a large fingerprint in the lower left corner. It is difficult to see when their artifact is closely examined. There are a few mold mites present. The two black lines emanating from the lady's hair are part of the piece. The foursome is a rare and lovely daguerreian treasure. $3,000 |
