Tinted Couple by Southworth and Hawes
SOLD March 2004 |
Sixth plate daguerreotype of couple, by Southworth and Hawes. With extensive hand tinting in to the background in red, green, blue and peach. Housed in red-leather case.
Original examples of Southworth and Hawes plates with noteworthy hand-coloring are quite rare and this is a lovely example. The background has been colored with heavy blue, green, and whispier suggestions of peach and red across the white areas, suggestion a sky at sunset streaked with light. This would seem to show the influence of English colorists such as Kilburn who regularly used painted skies as part of their tinting.
The gent's assertive pose would seem to indicate he was an individual of some importance, or it may simply reflect that imposing presence which Southworth and Hawes seemed to lend their sitters almost as a matter of course. His wife is seated in the studio's high-backed chair and the image is housed in an extremely narrow octagonal mat consistent with Southworth and Hawes work.
