BROTHERS!

Their mother or a maid certainly would have been responsible from dressing and grooming the boys as they were prepared for this outstanding archivally taped sixth plate daguerreotype! The younger lad was handed a round object to hold. I was always hoping I could prove it was a baseball but alas, I suspect it was really a piece of fruit. He was probably told if he remained still and behaved he could eat the delicacy after the exposure was done. I wonder what the older lad was offered as an enticement to behave? He sat calmly with his hands folded in his lap. Neither child looked into the lens. I wonder if a parent was standing left of the camera when the lens was uncapped? The illumination entered the studio from nearly directly above the kids. Their cherubic faces were expertly sculpted. The craftsmanship that went into executing the likeness was done at the highest level of daguerreotypy. My scan is a pale shadow of the brilliance the boys project when the separated cover of their leather case is removed. Scattered tarnish remains inside the brass mat. Those marks on the little lad’s shirt don’t appear to have been done later. I must emphasize that the holographic depth is superb and the tonality is top notch!