John--

You're right, that does make sense.  Especially if there might have  
been some plaster molds made of his face--that provides a plausible  
reason for  the shirtlessness.   Billy Idol, Sting, and countless  
other rockers have no such excuse.

--LH


On Sep 3, 2010, at 8:48 AM, John Bird wrote:

> I think it was taken in 1884.  Although Justin Kaplan said it was  
> "almost
> surely a joke," I recently ran across a compelling idea I had never  
> seen
> before.  In a dissertation on Twain and the pictorial, the writer at  
> Duke
> (don't have my notes with me to give credit) offers, via his  
> dissertation
> director Lou Budd, that the picture was taken as a study for  
> Gerhardt's
> bust, which was made in 1884 for the frontispiece of Huck Finn.   
> When you
> look at the picture and the bust together, that idea makes perfect  
> sense. I
> am convinced that the picture was not a joke, but a musculature  
> study for
> Gerhardt's statue.
>
> John Bird
> Winthrop University
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mark Twain Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Larry  
> Howe
> Sent: Friday, September 03, 2010 9:34 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Picture date?
>
> Forum--
>
> I'm sure someone here knows the date of the famous shirtless Twain
> photo?  No prizes, just my gratitude.
>
> Thanks,
>
> --LH