Sixth Plate

SHE . . . Wasn’t his wet nurse! A mature mother maybe or a young grandmother. I will leave it to the next owner to decide the lad’s relationship to the woman! While the babe bobbed and weaved in her lap the adult sitter rested her large hand across the leg of the child. She had a soft proud expression on her lips and looked across the plane of the archivally sealed sixth plate image towards the furthest wall inside the operating room. I’m not certain why her fine facial features were also unsharp. The maker might have focused on the edge of that dark chair and the depth of field didn’t quite cover the likeness front to back. I think a better explanation (and I don’t mean to take away your enjoyment of the portrait) (but sometimes I NEED to know why) was that the plate holder was tilted inside the camera and not exactly parallel to the subjects. The chemistry was mighty fine to the point when their whole wooden and paper covered case is opened, the pair leaps out! Mold spiders are in the darkness with small scratches near the brass mat in several locations. Dark tarnish is visible too. The line in the lower right was where the cloth met the floor. Vertical highlights behind the female’s head were folds in the backcloth.