Sixth Plate

MY BEST EFFORT. Oh woe is me, I just can’t come close to providing a scan for all you readers that closely approximates the sixth plate masterpiece made in the studio of Charles Williamson, Brooklyn, NY. All of you know how I feel about the quality of work that Charles and his brother Edward produced. The attentive mother has held her daughter with such perfection that the baby was mesmerized and remained calm, unmoving during the rapid (probably 5 second) exposure. The Williamsons’ technical attributes were never consistently surpassed by other highly skilled daguerreians. For those fortunate enough to see several untouched examples of their extant work, you all know that they were the greatest American colorists. I know that my reproduction shows all the teeny flaws, yet it DOES NOT present the phenomenal holographic depth or the “real” color values. I have always maintained that the top 10% of all dags are really impossible to reproduce accurately. You can see the Williamson imprint in the lower left corner of the plain oval brass mat. Mother and daughter are held in one of the gallery’s favorite cases, a plain pigskin leather push button case with exterior brass hinges. If you desire to own a superlative likeness from the Williamson Gallery, please consider mother and daughter.