Quarter Plate

TWO SISTERS AND . . . Possibly a friend sat for their resealed quarter plate horizontal portrait about 1853 in a small room where the daguerreian didn?t even have a wide enough cloth backdrop to completely isolate the girls from the space beyond it. The illumination flowed into the area from that large window on the right. The white wood hugging the mat was part of the frame. Casey and I aren?t certain what was exposed between the light source and the edge of the dark fabric in the beyond. The slash of bright material on the left would have been part of the reflector. Because the trio was scrunched together their bare arms overlapped. The blue-eyed siblings, could they have been twins, had similar almost surprised expressions. Their darker companion was handed a small flower to hold but even that didn?t remove the consternation from her facial appearance. Beautiful patina surrounds the young women after the piece was quickly cleaned to remove two unsightly large brown spots. The dark lines on the middle subject?s face and those lower right seem to have been on the surface after they were taken. The camera operator had obviously been practiced in the art since the quality of the likeness, that has excellent contrast and depth, was impressive. The thermoplastic case has chips on several corners and a hairline crack on one of the latches. It is listed in the Krainik book as plate #35 and the title is ?The Parting of Hafed and Hinda?!