PRIMITIVE DIGS! When I acquired the sixth plate dag I immediately realized just how much of an ?on the road again? setting this lovely lass was seated in front of, due to the very wrinkled but rather artsy flows of that cloth. She had been placed upon an ordinary wooden chair and rested one arm on the ubiquitous table covered with printed fabric. Those books represented part of a tried and true composition that less then stellar operators used to enhance the subject. Asking the young maiden to also display that tome in a vertical fashion was unusual. Her bouquet of flowers and the coverlet were both accented with blue and red pigments along with the flowers in her lengthy braids. Her freckles and tightly pursed lips complimented those marvelous massive brown or maybe green eyes that revealed the light source as having entered the small space from a huge window on the right. Part of the backdrop had been brought forward to reflect the brightness and soften any shadows. Curiously, that straight vertical line peeking out near the mat opening first appeared to be a support for the material behind the girl. I looked again before removing the brass surround and decided that the dag was too sharp to have been copied. If you stop reading and move to the scan of the naked plate you will see the entire original portrait?s plate outlined on this retaped example! I believe the gal was taken circa 1845 and placed in this mirror within a couple years because I just can?t fathom an itinerant operator having the skill set to duplicate dags with such perfection. It must have been done in a city studio right? Well . . . maybe not. Admittedly, I can?t be certain. There is one green dot, mold spiders and other specks in the silver. That larger white spot upper right and the dark line across the top in the patina were NOT part of this image. A leather case with a broken hinge has a delicate roses variant on both sides.
