Daily American organ. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1856, 1855-04-27
From the Crayon, April IL.
Are wives good judges Of their Husbands
Likenessf
LErrER FROM HIRAM powfRs.
FLORENCE Jauuary IA

nv DIAN Sin: In your kind and very interesting
letter from Turin you quote a question put, and
answered ~ . fact, by some professor Il forget
who, namely; "why ID IL that wife Is poor
Judge Of hcr husbands portal. " And you ask
me 10 give you In writing my for declaring
that Il is fact that wife Is almost always the
very best Judge Of her husbands portrait The
reasons are as follows:
A wife who loves her husband sees instantly the
slightest change In his expression. She knows by
his looks II he Is well III, good-natured or angry.
She perceives almost his every thought, and all
this by the changes Of his countenance. His
manner, TO be sure, assists his expression, what
ever 1t may be- but the face for the most part re-
vcals TO her the action Of his mind and the state
Of his bodily feelings.
Now, II the wife can discern with such nicely,
by the changes from the habtual expression of her
husbands features, how he feels and thinks, surely
she, Of all others, ought to be the best judge Of
the likeness of those features. II the likeness is
perfect, she sees him In L. II imperfect, she does
not see him In il ; she never saw him So it is not
familiar 70 her; IL Is not in the mirror of her SOUL
and her love rejects II rs foreign and unknown.
This Is my argument, and my experience proves
Its truth.
have made many busts of husbands, and their
wives too, and have always found them the last TO
be satisfied with each others likeness. Their crit
icisms have usually followed In the progress of my
work TO the end, while others have been satisfied
long before. Acquaintance and friends have said
you can do no more to ID, IL Is as like as II can
be-" &C. but husbands and wives have said, "No,
1t Is not right yet IL Is not the right expression"
They might not have said where II was wrong, but
they fe,t that something not familiar to them.
picture or a bust should reflect like mirror,
the very image of It's original and, If it does that,
the husband the wife Is sure to be satisfied; II it
does not, others may be, but they never can be.
The question then Ia why do others discover like
mess that the wife cannot perceive? viii answer
this question by asking another question. How Is
il that parents rarely discover the resemblance
which their children bear 10 themselves, and to one
anothery Every body else may perceive very strong
resemblance but the parents cannot. Whyy-be-
cause the parents are fsmiliar with all the minute
pecularites and differences; strangers ouy see the
generals to stranger flock Of sheep all alike
TO the shepherd, no two are alike; 70 a stranger,
the likeness Of an individual sheep would be the
likeness Of every one In the flock, but the shepherd
would select the sheep represented II the likeness
was good, but not otherwise and so II Is with fam
lilies there Il n family resemblance perceived by
strangers, but not perceived by the family Let
the father be represented faithfully, and the wife
and children win see him, and him only; but the
stranger win perceive, perhaps, something Of the
whole family In his likeness. The stranger, as IL
the general outlines the relative stands too near
for this-he secs only the details, comparatively.
II IL often said that some portraits are easy TO
paint, and some difficult; and 10 is presumed that
very marked features are the easiest, but have
found all slike difficult.
I'll true that q resemblance may soon be pro-
duced In a case OF marked features but q resem-
blance Is not always q likeness. child may draw
q resemblance 10 horse, a cat, an elephant, but
can he portray the likeness Of two individual dogs
cats, or clephantsf Now, there are men 80 dis
tinguished by very marked features from all other
men, that they seem 10 belong 10 almost distinct
races, and such men offer opportunities for easy
portrsits The most inferior artists can produce
rcscmbances Of such men +; everybody viii say at
once, this Is meant for General jackson, General
Washington, or, perhaps, DR.. Franklin, and yet
the same degree Of resemblance TO some one whose
features are not very peculiar would not be rccog-
missed by any one.
To conclude, I VIII add, that no wife who loves
her husband win ever fal 70 perceive faithful
likeness OF him, however old and ugly II may
appear and that the artist who can faithfully
represent an easy likeness, can always, with as
good an opportunity, represent equally well, TO q
wife, husband, or anybody clsc, difficult ono.
Yours most truly,
HiRAx PowfRs.