The Goldminer image

Questions:

Would a miner in the 1850s have actually looked like this? Even for a short time?

Where might he have come from?

Look closely at the clothes he is wearing and think about how they might have looked one week later, one month later, one year later.

This Gold miner is looking us right in the eye in this painting.

If this man could speak, what might he have said at the moment that the image was created?