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It's
extremely unlikely that Southworth
& Hawes would have
delivered a plate like this to a
customer. In all probability, it
would have been cut apart so the
individual images could be fiitted
into lockets or other jewelry.
This rare intact survivor is made
even more unusual by the intimacy of
the composition and by the details
it shows of the studio--the
trademark column and chair, and what
may be a thermometer on the
wall. "Daguerreotype
has become the
infant-school of art.
There
are a thousand to look
at, and criticise, and
possess a picture now,
to one ten years ago.
Shapes and forms are
observed, studied and
compared; disagreeable,
and unfavorable effects
of light and shade are
contrasted with
agreeable and fortunate;
universal interest is
felt in its progress;
and it has come to be a
fine art indeed. Every
Daguerreotypist's energy
is taxed to its utmost
to perfect his
apparatus, to cultivate
a correct taste, to
improve and discipline
his eye, and to acquire
those powers of
perception and feeling,
which will best fit him
to perform his
complicated duties and
enable him to equal the
just expectations of the
public." --From
a promotional article by
Albert S. Southworth
in The Massachusetts
Register: A State
Record, for the Year
1852, p.327
Courtesy:
Gary W. Ewer |
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