Mrs. Dwight K. Yerxa as Queen Isabella in the Pageant -Torchbearer 1918

Jessie Tarbox Beals made this photograph, 'Mrs. Dwight K. Yerxa as Queen Isabella in the Pageant -Torchbearer', using silver print. Have you ever dressed up in costume? I wonder what it was like for Mrs. Yerxa to play Queen Isabella and carry the torch. I imagine Jessie asking her to stand still, the light catching the fabric of her gown and the tips of her enormous head-dress. Beals has captured a striking sense of depth, and the figure really pops out from the blurred ground and trees. The sepia tone gives the image a nostalgic feel, like an old memory or a scene from a play. You can sense a confidence and playful spirit as Mrs. Yerxa embodies her character. It makes me think about how the artist wanted to represent her subject, and about the way dress-up and performance can become a way to test the waters of transformation and express one's self. Don't you think? It's like they're inviting us to dream along with them, to imagine the possibilities of who we could be.