Tuesday, July 8, 2008

My young men continued





Today's image is a bit of a change of pace. Not a daguerreotype, but a portrait on ivory. I bought it while I was in Williamsburg VA visiting a friend. It was the end of the day. We were at an antique show and came across this image, along with a couple of others, in one of the booths. As the show was ending, the lady who ran the booth made me an offer I couldn't refuse and I came home with what is my usual 'take' from an antique show - something unique but flawed.

I don't know about you, but I dislike 'perfect' antiques. To me, it says no one ever used or enjoyed the item. Life uses and abuses. It breaks and bends. Most often, it does not destroy, but it leaves all of us a little rough around the edges. So it is with this young man. The image is near perfect, but it has been broken in two. Was it carried by a young woman whose heart was also broken? There was a lock of hair caught between the shattered glass and the images' backing. If you know about images like this, hair is often an indication of separation - either temporary or permanent. Hair was considered everlasting and so represented eternity.

So far as I can tell, this portrait is of a young man around twenty from the eighteen-tens to eighteen-teens. My guess would be that it is English, though I have no reason to suspect that. It's just a 'gut' feeling. The artist's talent is apparent in the way his 'look' pulls you in. There it is again. What I am attracted to in these old images. Intelligence. Purpose. Determination.

Beats a 'kodak' moment any day....

Now, after all that talk about things not being perfect, you are probably wondering about the second image above. I didn't mend the portrait, I just manipulated it - in the computer. I had to see what he looked like, didn't I?

1 comment:

Lady Cincinnatus said...

This is going to sound weird, but he looks like a younger David with dark hair!! It just struck me that he looked familiar. :)