Sixth Plate

WERE HIS EYES . . . Really blue? The man who produced this newly taped sixth size dag decided that for posterity, they SHOULD be that hue and so they are in the child’s portrait. The boy’s hair seemed so thick that I think mom might have needed a small wooden rake to comb it out. I wonder if he inherited her face full of freckles? Doesn’t he jump out from the darkness! The explosive pattern on his shiny cotton jacket couldn’t have been missed, that’s for sure. I am impressed at the kid’s casual pose, for one so young. Like he was asked to sit in front of the camera, sighed and sat there without a care in the world. By 1861 that might have all changed! A rainbow of oxidation formed around the subject. The pale white stains near his head were where dollops of moisture resided for many years. His likeness is fun to examine since the colors are changeable and the subject is directly before us, waiting to speak. The leather case, circa 1846, has a delicate roses variant on both sides. I have scanned the classic Shew label.