Sixth Plate

POUTY FACE! Everyone who has had kids certainly has seen an expression similar to the one on this little girl’s face when she posed for her portrait done on a resealed sixth size plate. Those long cascades of curls certainly softened the reticent child’s appearance, but make no other assumptions. She was very unhappy to sit in front of a camera. The daguerreotypist tried to placate the child?s parents by adding red tint to her cheeks and lips, plus he reached into his wooden tray of pigments and mixed light blue that was daubed on the chair cover. Rich oxidation fills space inside the oval mat. Lots of tiny specks are difficult to see. There are two brown dots on the girl?s dress. When the surface is seen in the negative, haziness on the silver is seen. The leather case has a torn hinge. The boldly stamped hallmark was ?W. H. H. 40?!