Haunted Houses

There are more guests at table than the hosts
Invited; the illuminated hall
Is thronged with quiet, inoffensive ghosts,
As silent as the pictures on the wall.

The stranger at my fireside cannot see
The forms I see, nor hear the sounds I hear;
He but perceives what is; while unto me
All that has been is visible and clear.

 

 

We have no title-deeds to house or lands;
Owners and occupants of earlier dates
From graves forgotten stretch their dusty hands,
And hold in mortmain still their old estates.

Extract from "Haunted Houses" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)

 

© 2023  José Pereira Torrejón. All rights reserved. No part of the content of this blog may be distributed, published or reproduced without prior authorization from the author.

Jenny Kiss'd Me

Jenny kiss’d me when we met,

Jumping from the chair she sat in;

Time, you thief, who love to get

Sweets into your list, put that in!

Say I’m weary, say I’m sad,

Say that health and wealth have miss’d me,

Say I’m growing old, but add,

Jenny kiss’d me. 

 

James Henry Leigh Hunt (1784-1859)

© 2023  José Pereira Torrejón. All rights reserved. No part of the content of this blog may be distributed, published or reproduced without prior authorization from the author.

Jane's attic update No XLVIII: Little Annie and her kittie.

Jane's attic holds many interesting items, and this portrait is definitely one of them. Titled "Little Annie and her kittie", this miniature print is a reproduction of a nineteenth century lithograph which was published by the American printmaking firm Currier & Ives of New York.

Between 1835 and 1907, the firm produced prints from paintings by fine artists as black and white lithographs that were hand colored. Because the lithographs could be produced quickly and purchased inexpensively, the firm advertised them as "colored engravings for the people."

"Little Annie and her kittie" graces Jane's attic as can be seen in these images. One thing remains a mystery though: several people have reported seeing the spectre of a white cat in and around the old house. Could it be, that, perhaps...?

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Thanks for visiting, and see you next time!

© José Pereira Torrejón. All rights reserved. No part of the content of this blog may be distributed, published or reproduced without prior authorization from the author.

The Girl in the Glass: In search of a 19th century beauty.

There was a time, before the invention of photographic film, when glass plates were used as a medium in photography. A light-sensitive emulsion of silver salts was coated on a glass plate, and when it was exposed to light when taking a picture, a chemical reaction created an impression on the coating. A ghostly impression, one could say. The purpose of this project was to restore to life a girl thus captured in glass.

People in some ancient cultures believed that photography would steal your soul. And even today, some still do. It is true that photography does have an element of magic to it, for it creates reproductions of realities, capturing them in film, or, more commonly today, digitally.

What looks like ordinary paint on a piece of glass is, in reality, an ancient emulsion hiding a treasure.

The glass plate in the above picture contains the image of a 19th century girl, which is revealed when the plate is exposed to light going through it. 

Injured  and aetheric, her apparition filled me with awe and wonder! I had to see her true image! 

Exposed to light, the glass reveals its secret...

 

I took a photograph of the plate, then inverted the negative, and there she was, for the first time in more than one hundred years, such a splendid and delicate girl, what a moment of pure joy!

The positive image of the girl.

Beautiful as she was, I could not bear the sight of the harm that time had inflicted upon her. Specially her face and head had sustained quite some damage, and seeing her like this made me sad. So I decided to give her back her dignity and beauty by doing some magic of my own.

I restored her image but not the total picture as a whole, leaving some of the damage and stains untouched which then became decorative. 

And here she is, in all her splendor and innocence: behold the beautiful Girl in the Glass! Welcome to the 21st century, sweetness!

Thanks for visiting and see you next time!

© José Pereira Torrejón. All rights reserved. No part of the content of this blog may be distributed, published or reproduced without prior authorization from the author.

It's online...

Dear All, you're invited to enter the eerie crypt of my latest project: "The Premature Burial"!

Click on the image below to enter.

Don't be afraid. I'll guide you back into the light....