A Gentle Hand (and Short Breeches!) 19th C. Ambrotype of 18th Century Painting in Half Case embroidered figure on muslin The rich custard colored enameled

The rich custard colored enameled surface also really sets off the color in everything else

The faces on these children just kill me

spare but deeply expressive

side cast gaze of this young woman seeming to sparkle with a coy mischievousness

I purchased this beautifully executed charcoal drawing directly from a seller in France along with one other

A Gentle Hand (and Short Breeches!) 19th C. Ambrotype of 18th Century Painting in Half Case embroidered figure on muslin The rich custard colored enameledI wish I knew more about this one an ambrotype, found in MA, of an earlier painting, which looks Revolutionary War era to me (and him a bit like John Adams!), at the center of which is the gesture of her hand on his cuff with painted gold wedding band on her finger though I must say it looks a bit to me like the fingers of her other hand, resting in her lap, are crossed! (And the gesture itself feels, perhaps cynically on my part, like a bit of a