Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1880-02-06
The Speaking Likeness.

= In0 speaking AlkeuesS.
. Nobody can ovefsstimase the benefit
that the art Of photography has been be
the world-not only the blessing it has
bestowed on the poor mans home, but
the advantage also that every depart.
ment of the arts and sciences has found
from it. The wonders that it has
wrought in the hands of astronomers
here, for instance, 1t works such q
m iracle as to show US an identity be.
tween the rays of Arcturus and Of the
sun, are things bordering on the do
m ain of those mysteries to which it is
di tfcult to give complete credence; and
m UGH as it has accomplished in the past,
rs much more may we expect of its sci
entitic reach in the future.
But although no scientific gain is
anything else than gain to the human
race, We think the race would gladly
barter ell that benefit which it has re-
ceiyed through the application of pho
Biography to the abstract sciences for the
sake Of the gain it has brough: to every
nearth-s.one, in making it possible for
all still to retain their dear ones in some
measure after death has hidden them,
rs 1t Was impossible fifty years ago,
when they that buried their dead, if
they were not rich enough to command
an oii-portrait, and had not the fortu-
nate memory for lines and features,
buried them slowly from actual, posi-
tive, rcyisiting memory as we'll as from
sight. Thus photography has robbed
Death himself Of a portion OF his ter
rors to those that survive loss, and by
multiplying likenessos taken with diff
ferent glances, different attitudes, gives
one SO many different expressions of the
same person, that by shifting the little
cards IN the hands, with all the memo.
ries that they revive, one can almost
seem again to have the real person,
with ell that sparkling change of coun-'
tenance which belongs to the living.
Blu. fine as photography is, and boon
as it may be to every one Of US, there is
nothing, after all, that equals the oil
nortrait, when We want the likeness OF
the one We love best. The photograph
renders, with a cruel distinctness, ey-
erything in the face, and that which is
most unlovely, often the most promi.
nently. ...
But the portrait, although it may be
honest enough not to omit it, letting it
be found there ii one seeks for it, but
not otherwise, so softens AID SO over
shadows that which is harsh or ugly by
that which is more pleasing, that one
forgets it is there, and sees only the
best side of tho subject. The photo
graph gives but one expression at
time, moreover, but tho good portrait
gives US as many expressions as we, can
take points of sight, or as we have mem
DRY and intelligence to see, and is. in
deed, the elimination and idealization
of all those expressions in one. 1t is no
servile rendering Of the curves and an
giles OF face alone, but IL the play of
light and shade and tint upon it repro
duces the soul that INFORMS it with light
and life. 1t is no mere vulgar repro
duction, but is the result OF an art Of
arts, and differs from the crude copies
of an object as much as distilled waters
differ from expressed essences. And III
addition to all its other charms, is the
great and inestimable one of color, that
gives vividness and actuality to all tho
rest, that makes the subject seem alive
and ready to smile, to speak, to step
from the frame, and adds grace and
joy to any wall on which the painted
portrait hangs. When we remember
what it is to paint a portrait, how many
faces are painted into that one face
whose eyes follow us, We do not marv4
at the vast prices that great portrait
painters have received. But when, on
the other hand, We remember what it is
to have portrait, We can only regret
that there are those beyond whose
means the luxury and bliss Of it must
forever be set, and wonder that those
with loving hearts and any means atali
to command luxuries do not so without
everything else necessary to procure
this, aud command, first of all, the lux
ury of the portraits of those the absence
of whose faces would make blank in
their lives.-Hwperts Bazar.
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