A CLOSER LOOK AT THE MOVIE BROTHER JOSEPH

 In the movie Brother Joseph Again, artist Joseph Brickey makes a series of adjustments to a 3D model of Joseph Smith Jr.'s death mask when comparing it to the Larsen daguerreotype.

There is a glaring hole in his justification for what he calls a reasonable adjustment to the mouth. That very shape had long been recorded in both the Mansion House painting and the Unedited photo. The Unedited photo is a copy of the original daguerreotype on which the painting was based. In both images, the shape of the mouth matches what we see in Joseph's death mask.

Brickey claimed that an injury sustained before death caused Joseph's upper lip to swell, changing the shape we see in the death mask.

Willard Richards, who was in the room, reported that as Joseph tried to leap through the second-story window, two shots fired from the doorway struck him and a shot from outside entered his right chest. Joseph then fell out the window. Richards's other accounts describe additional wounds, including one below the heart. Richards also reported seeing no signs of life in the seconds after Joseph struck the ground. Most accounts agree that Joseph died very quickly.

Swelling requires circulation of a living body. It is fair to argue that postmortem bloating differs greatly from what Brickey is implying.

Brickey also added a nasolabial fold like the one visible in the Larsen daguerreotype, citing the weight and quality of the plaster to explain why the fold was missing from Joseph's mask. Yet the same plaster was used for his brother Hyrum, and those folds are clearly visible in Hyrum's mask. The plaster was capable of preserving those details.

There is nothing forensic about comparing an altered 3D image to a photo, when clearly a bias to make them match has been in play. That is an artistic interpretation, nothing less.

The Unedited photo aside, if the Larsen Daguerreotype doesn't match the artwork of Joseph or the death mask, or even the descriptions, what has the Movie Brother Joseph really proven?

#larsendaguerreotype #brotherjosephagain #josephsmithphoto #stickofjoseph #KSL The Joseph Smith Papers Joseph Smith, The Prophet Joseph Smith Jr and Emma Hale Smith Historical Society LDS Living The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints