LOOKING AT ANGELS!

I am truly at a loss to actually describe the beautiful little girl’s expression or her thought process as she was placed so accurately on a retaped sixth plate dag. If you can take a moment to look behind the child on the left side of her lovely face, you might notice an arm and a portion of an adult?s hand that cupped her head. I guess the gal was resigned to the urgings of her parents ?to be taken? and probably she was promised a treat if she behaved. That must have been very colorful purse attached to a cord that had been placed around her arm. That appeared to have been a scar on her skin near the string. With a roll of her blue or green eyes the kid?s round freckled face had an impish appearance. I wonder how many ?takes? were done to get this fabulous remembrance? There is a wipe on the right side, yet could it have been there the day the portrait was done? The mid-19th century paper seals were so brittle that the piece was barely kept together, but it was very tight in the complete leather case. The oxidation is hardly seen inside the oval brass mat. The most astounding technical aspect in my mind was the narrow focused illumination. The tiny tot leaps forward from the darkness. Gold was daubed on her long earrings.