Portret van een onbekend kind met een pop op een stoel buiten 1863 - 1875

Heinrich Steinhauer made this photograph of an unknown child with a doll, likely sometime in the late 19th century. The image offers a glimpse into the social world of childhood and photography during this period. Consider the setting: an outdoor space, possibly a garden or backyard. The child is formally posed, holding a doll, and placed in a wicker chair. We can ask: What does this tell us about the values and expectations placed on children at this time? How does the act of photographing children reflect changing social attitudes? These cards were often collected in albums and acted as a display of social status. To understand this photograph more fully, we could research the history of childhood, photographic practices, and the rise of portraiture in the 19th century. The meaning of this image is always contingent on its social and institutional context.