Mr. Stagg's Physionotrace

Hi Guys!

Let's climb into the wayback machine and check up on my pal, Lorenzo!  Old Lorenzo wants to be a famous artist someday, but seein' as he lives during the time of Andrew Jackson, he can't seem to find any customers for his fancy paintings.  Those early Americans were just too darn practical.  Besides, art is for aristocrats, not lovers of liberty!

So for now, Lorenzo has to get by as a portraitist!  You see, the camera hasn't been invented yet, which makes portraits the one kind of art that Americans will pay for.  I mean, we all want to be remembered, right?

Lorenzo has found out the hard way that not everybody can afford a painted canvas in a gilded frame.  But silhouettes, or "profiles," as they were called, could be made dirt-cheap!  You didn't need a lot of expensive art supplies, just a few sheets of paper and some scissors or a pen-knife!  Then presto!  You're ready to go!

Lorenzo's no dummy, though.  He's rigged himself up a physionotrace!  That's basically like a pantograph -- He gets the customer to sit still in front of a sheet of oil-paper and then he traces their profile with a stylus.  The stylus is connected to movable wooden framework, which is connected a pencil, which replicates the contours of the customer's profile in exact, but reduced detail on a piece of regular paper.  If you trace that profile carefully, you almost can't screw it up!

'Course Lorenzo's got a lot of talent and he probably doesn't need that contraption.  But he knows that us Americans like our gizmos and our theatrics!  When word gets round that he's brought his magic profile machine to town, everyone will show up at his rented room to get their phiz recorded for posterity!  Those quarters will add up fast and before you know it, Lorenzo will be sailing to Rome to study with the greatest artists in the world!

But that's a story for some other time.  We'd better get back to the here-and-now. 

Hey, check this out!  Wendy found it in some antique shop.  Looks kinda familiar if you ask me!

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