My Young Men

As an artist, I am fascinated by faces. As an historian, I am fascinated by historical faces. And as a woman, well...I have to admit I am fascinated by male faces. I think, like the heroine in my book Goodnight Robinson, that I come to these 100 plus year old images seeking something that I find lacking in a good many 21st century males - character. You can see it in their eyes. In the set of their jaw. In the line of the mouth, and simply the way they hold themselves. But mostly, it is in their eyes.

I was surprised to find that the old quote, 'The eyes are the windows of the soul', is Biblical in origin. Matthew 6:22,23 says "The lamp of the body is the eye. If, then, your eye is simple, your whole body will be bright; but if your eye is wicked, your whole body will be dark. If in reality the light the that is in you is darkness, how great that darkness is!"

At about the pace of one a week, I will share one of my 'men'. The first is the young man I used on the cover of Goodnight Robinson. This image is a daguerreotype. The gold mat (which has been removed here to allow a clearer scan) is more ornate than others that I have, dating the photo to the late 1840s or, more likely, the 1850s. It came with a scrap of paper on which these words were inscribed in pencil, 'Remember me when I am gone. Drew.' What is the story here? If the dag is late 1840s, was Drew heading off to the Mexican War? Was he leaving for the gold fields? Was he, perhaps, dying? I will never know for certain, but the mystery only enhances the image and its appeal.