Historical Nonfiction

Before cameras, one’s image was either sculpted or painted. Prices charged by painters were not based on how many people were painted, but on how many limbs.  Arms and legs are “limbs,” therefore including them would cost the buyer more.  Hence the expression, “Okay, but it’ll cost you an arm and a leg.” (The painting above, of John and Abigail Adams, would have been cheaper because no limbs are painted.)

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