Getty Museum

[Portrait of a Seated Child with hidden mother]

Date

1865–1870

Medium

Tintype

Culture

American

Department

Photographs

Institution

Getty Museum

A Black child of about a year in age sits propped against a white backdrop of fabric that hides a seated woman, likely the child's mother. The seated woman's skirts are visible below the child who rests on her lap. The child is wearing a white dress and small leather soled shoes. Hidden mother posed portraits such as this were relatively common during the period of early photography as exposure times could be long and the mother, or another woman, were able to hold the child keeping them calm and still without appearing in the photograph themselves.

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