Conspirator's Portraits

[Pamela]

So, some people suggested the photo was altered during the trial to make Mary look more evil (I didn't know that), and I thought it had been photoshopped in recent times to make her look prettier, primarily her nose looks like a different nose to me at the base near her nostrils. Nowadays it's so easy to do, but it's clear that it's an original from what you've said. It's not like no one on this forum or elsewhere has ever played with pictures. The picture we are discussing, in Schein's book, is identified by date, 1851, which I didn't notice, as I should have. I doubt if I would have wondered about the photo if I had read that, although it seems odd to me that Mary appears to be wearing the same collar, bow and brooch, and maybe dress. Now that I look more closely, the way the light hits the bow is identical. The bow part of the photos are identical, really. Maybe ladies during that period wanted to be photographed in identical clothes and jewelry a decade apart. Maybe that was her finest dress that she saved, and could still fit into after having children. Is that where corsets come in to play? Of course youth will make a big difference. I think Mary Todd Lincoln looks very different, like a different person, in the youngest photo I've seen of her. Lincoln, too for that matter. I don't get how that early photo of Mary Surratt could look at all evil to anyone.

My comment is a superficial observation about a picture; there's no need for you to attack my motives and my understanding of her background or my ability to appreciate those factors.