PAY ATTENTION!

PAY ATTENTION! Researching, I discovered a valuable asset inherent on the Internet. Whenever you “Google” something in image search, the world-wide web drags up EVERYTHING associated with that subject, in no particular order. Only that the more something is viewed, the closer to the top it rises. As you search for acceptable images to compare your newfound famous face, Google is showing you everyone they ever knew, their relatives, friends, enemies, fans, whomever. It seems random… but in my case, the Internet was inadvertently giving me visual clues which helped me recognize other faces being sold by the same seller; ones which otherwise, I would never have recognized.

Alice Hoschede, Monet's second wife.

So, when I saw an image I thought to be Claude Monet, (or his doppelganger) and searched Google for similar angles for comparison, Google was showing me his wives, children and associates. Incredibly, this helped me identify many more images, which were not that valuable, but precious to history. Sadly, because my research sometimes took so long, I failed to acquire some tintypes before they were sold, and the one of Monet was one of them! But I was able to purchase tintypes of his wives and children!

Little Michel Monet, an irresistible subject! The similarity of this tintype to Michel's portrait below suggests that this, and probably the other French tintypes were collected by a trusted friend, perhaps also the photograppher, for a scrapbook of some kind about the "Impressionists." Who else could manage to assemble such an intimate photographic record? Edgar Degas was one such associate, not only famous for his Impressionist pastels, but also known by his frioends for his passion for photographing. He made a habit of turning every social situation into a photo shoot. It must be assumed that Monet used this tintype photograph (or a copy of it) as a resource in the creation of the portrait of Michel below. Or this is just a doppelganger of Michel, which found itself among all the other doppelgangers of French artists and their families. When donkeys fly!

As my favorite actor, Tom Selleck on Magnum P.I. always said. “I know what you are thinking.” You are thinking, “This is crazy, this story is beyond luck or coincidence, it has to be a big cock and bull story, and it’s wasting my time… Maybe.” And I would agree with you. But I have just lived it. I’m like the Apostle Peter at Pentecost- “… we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” Here's Tom compared to his Victorian dop.

Eventually, after you see this collection, and appreciate the Q-5 technique, and consider the one-in-a-Trillion chance of locating a true doppelganger… you will probably not consider most these faces to be those of doppelgangers. The odds are against that. But as far as accepted authentication is concerned, that is the only claim I can make.