Unhappy
SOLD December 2001 |
American sixth plate daguerreotype of a mother holding her child, with applied hand-coloring in red, gilt, and blue. Housed in full leather case with split spine.
Whatever doses of Fate one received in the 19th century were necessarily confronted with personal and family courage. This child so protectively cradled in the arms of its mother is clearly alive, as its hand appears to have moved up and down during the exposure, spastically out of relation to its closed eyes and the motionless calm seen in the rest of his body. Although the image has a somber atmosphere and is very likely some sort of pre-mortem, it is finely rendered, with bright blue color laid on the infant's dress as well as pink highlights on the sitters' skin, and bright dabs of gold and red to Mother's neck-clasp.
