What kind of building is this and where??

[tomkin]

 I thought that the doors etc  were " trompe l'oeil" at first, but the shelves etc are not.
    There is of course no reason why the doors could not open into a room beyond which may not be the same size and form as this room.

      

is leaning into the room - look at the chair in front of it,

     Why not! my floors are like that

     I'm posting a very crude and fast colour to show what I mean about the columns at
each side of the "private area. Of course there is not enough resolution to see any minute shading etc so some is purely guesswork. You can see from the " Eagle " that the light must have come from both left and right ( Flash ) and been formed by the pendular structure hanging from the ceiling. What worries me is the shadow at the side of the first column on the right. How was that formed?

      Tomkin, Painter & Decorator. ( Have Bike . Will Travel. )

        

[dennford]

..Both glass plates had/have brown tape stuck around the edges. Some of it has pealed off in places, but I assume it was so that people wouldn't cut themselves on the glass?? The stud/drawing pins are part of the image printed on the glass.

Hadyn

Yes, most of those plates were just cut and never had the edges ground - handling them in the dark could be a risky buiseness.

                                                         Denn

[Jean McGurn]

Great bit of colour Tomkin. Looks a lot clearer to my old eyes. Although the square column bits don't look like they fit in. Why have only three on each side and why not going the length of the room evenly spaced?

I am thinking now that one is in a tunnel or archway area looking through to the back wall with two doors of a room or hall running past.

I do wonder if it is an early trial of a composite picture. I don't know much about the plates they used for early photography but suppose a picture was taken of one scene, then the same plate used to take a picture of another scene the the plate carefully positioned to expose only the area not used.

Bit like they can do these days when they use blue background when they do the weather to superimpose a different scene to where the weatherman is.

Seem to remember the little girl with the fairies turned out to be something like that.

Jean

[martianuk]

Some interesting ideas to consider Jean - thanks!
I just wondered what 'the little girl with the fairies' is that you referred to???

Thanks,

Hadyn

[Jean McGurn]

It was a photograph taken in I think the 1930's of a little girl in a garden with a number of fairies flying around in front of her. Actually I think it was two little girls - sisters.

Anyway a few years ago it was confirmed that it was a fake when one of the girls revealed all to a newspaper. She said that the photographer had faked the picture.

Jean

[PrueM]

The Cottingley Fairies 

Here's a website - there are loads of others:

http://www.randi.org/library/cottingley/index.html

[phrishy]

I think Tomkin's colouring made me look twice at the bed on the right hand side.  Look at both his and the original, to my mind they are the same - the side of the foot of the bed is against the wall, lining up with the back of the chair, but the head of the bed is against the column.  How can this be? 

As far as the leaning table and money are concerned, the right side of the skirt around the table hangs vertical as it would if the table is at that angle.  If it was the picture of the table with monkey that was skewiff then the skirt would stick out at an angle.

Now shoot me down.

[Lydart]

This thread is still running and running I see !

I go back to what I suggested earlier (or maybe two of my suggestions) ... as several other people are repeating and re-repeatng !

1)  trompe l'oeil would explain the far end ... the whole of that end wall could just be painted, doors and all ?  When I was at school, back in the dark ages, I painted school play scenery ... and unfortunately cant find a photo of it ... but I remember painting columns for the set ... and it wasn't until I saw a photo of the set after the play was finished, that I realised I had got the shadows wrong on columns.

2)  the two side doors couldn't be opened towards us ... but they could be opened away from us ... and I go back to what I suggested earlier that this end wall reminds me of the screen in an Orthodox church, where the side doors open away, and into the sanctuary (there would also have to be a central door, but that could be hidden behind the central part if that section is painted on a board ?)

This rather poor photo shows what I mean ?  The left and centre doors are obvious; the right hand door in the iconostasis is somewhat hidden behind the epitafia ?   

[tomkin]

Although the square column bits don't look like they fit in. Why have only three on each side and why not going the length of the room evenly spaced?

                  It's not a case of wether they fit in or not. The fact is that they are there.
     Why have only 3 on each side? As I said earlier it is to identify this area as an important place. If it was a chapel this is where the altar would be. The rest of the room would be
relatively unimportant.

           Tomkin