Getty Museum

[Postmortem Portrait of an Infant]

Date

about 1855

Medium

Daguerreotype

Culture

American

Department

Photographs

Institution

Getty Museum

Posed as if sleeping peacefully, a small child rests her head against a crepe-covered pillow and her hands on a satin blanket. "Secure the Shadow 'ere the Substance Fade," a popular advertising slogan, reminded customers that a daguerreotype portrait would last forever. Long after a child had grown or age had transformed youth, the daguerreotype would preserve the image of a loved one. The large number of postmortem portraits of children gives the slogan special poignancy, a sad reminder of the high mortality rates in the 1800s, particularly for children. The practice of postmortem photography persisted into the first decades of the twentieth century, particularly in African-American communities.

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