For those who know A.Bovy's medallion I may add that the early portrait is very like it; only, in the latter, the line formed by the lower jawbone that runs from the chin towards the ear is more rounded, and the whole has a more youthful appearance.

As to the expression, it is not only meditative but even melancholy.

This last point leads me naturally to another question.

The delicate build of Chopin's body, his early death preceded by many years of ill-health, and the character of his music, have led people into the belief that from childhood he was always sickly in body, and for the most part also melancholy in disposition.

But as the poverty and melancholy, so also disappears on closer investigation the sickliness of the child and youth.