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After closely inspecting this photo (see the full and cropped versions) for quite some time, I was surprised to finally realize that there's someone--or part of someone, to be precise--missing from it.
Take another glance at the bride's mother, who was caught with her eyes closed. A man's shoulders are visible directly behind her. The man's head, however, has been imperfectly altered so that it partially blends in with the folds of the curtain behind him.
Who was this mysterious wedding guest, and who wanted him out of the picture? We'll never know, but I find it amazing how well hidden--to my eyes, at least--he turned out to be. It's remarkable that this simple method of concealment was so successful in hiding this man's presence in the photo.
1929, Santiago, Chile --- A group of people stand behind a flower booth --- Image by © Jacob J. Gayer/National Geographic Society/Corbis
Bust in bronze and onyx by French artist Charles Cordier (1827-1905) on exhibit at the d'Orsay Museum in Paris, France.
In 1857, Cordier was struck by the beauty of an African model, a former slave, and made his portrait. He then decided to devote his career as a sculptor to representing the diversity of human facial expression (physiogonomy). Nothing is known of this model who posed for Cordier except that he played the tam-tam in the festivities of Alger's (Algeria) Muslim community before Ramadan. In an admiring, respectful manner, Cordier has managed to render his natural nobility, which prompted comparisons with a Roman emperor.