The Beautiful Child

A faded photograph of a beautiful child, a Victorian ideal, makes for a suitable subject for restoration.

Many old photographs lose their story after a century or more, but I knew this one.

If the first-born holds a special place in the hearts of many parents, I can’t begin to imagine what the first-born child of a second marriage would mean to a father whose first wife and their first-born had died.

A dozen years later this father, who was the photographer, would also be dead and the beautiful child’s beautiful childhood came to an abrupt end.

Many years (and many tears) later the beautiful child would grow up and persevere, continuing her father’s artistic legacy while making her own beautiful ‘children’ in the world of art.

While I can’t bring her back I can at least I add a touch of color to her memory:

Wanda Gag, circa 1897, restored, 2023