Portret van een onbekende jongen gekleed in een pak voor de eerste heilige communie c. 1870 - 1910

This is a cabinet card photograph by L. Muller & Rault, depicting an unknown boy dressed for his first holy communion. Such photographs, popular from the mid-19th century onwards, were affordable and accessible, enabling a wider public to participate in image-making. In this portrait, we see the formal conventions of the genre being used to signal the importance of the occasion in the boy’s life. The setting is a photographer's studio; a classical pillar and painted backdrop seek to convey the solemnity and timelessness of religious ritual. The boy's attire, a dark suit, and the white armband, a symbol of purity and faith, were typical for this rite of passage. In studying this photograph, historians might explore the social and cultural significance of the first communion in different communities. Baptism and confirmation often functioned as markers of social identity, connecting individuals to specific religious and ethnic groups. We understand art as contingent on the social and institutional conditions that shape its production and reception.