18–24 May 1846

In Carlyle's head (photograph), which came last night, how much appears ! How unattain- able this truth to any painter! Here have I the inevitable traits, which the sun forgets not to copy, and which I thirst to see, but which no painter remembers to give me. Here have I the exact sculpture, the form of the head, the rooting of the hair, thickness of the lip, the man that God made. And all the Lawrences and D'Orsays will now serve me well as illustration. I have the form and organism and can better spare the expression and color.* What would I not give for a head of Shakspeare by the same artist? of Plato? of Demosthenes? Here I have the jutting brow, and the excellent shape of the head. And here the organism of the eye, full of England ; the valid eye, in which I see the strong executive talent which has made his thought available to the nations, whilst others, as intel- lectual as he, are pale and powerless. The pho- tograph comes dated 25 April, 1846, and he writes, " I am fifty years old."