Child Standing on a Chair Holding Flowers, with Mother

From the Cleveland Museum of Art record

Until the mid-1850s the daguerreotype process was the method preferred by the commercial photographers willing to meet the ever-growing demand for likenesses of family and friends. This daguerreotype captures the patience of a mother and child, who were required to hold their poses for some time during the exposure of the silver-coated copper plate. Only the bouquet of flowers held by the child is slightly blurred. Characteristic of the technique, the details in the image—fabric, facial features, and accessories—are clearly defined. Images of children were especially treasured in 1850s France, when one in four children died before reaching their fifth birthday.