Portret van een onbekend kind 1856 - 1876

Ch. Verbeke-Schodts, working in Belgium, made this portrait of an unknown child as a ‘carte de visite,’ a calling card, sometime in the mid-19th century. Photography was still relatively new, and the carte de visite offered a way for people to circulate their image within social circles and construct an identity. Note the child’s clothing and hairstyle. Such images are invaluable documents for historians of dress codes and social norms around gender and status. In the mid-19th century, Western societies had fairly rigid views about how children of different classes should appear in public. This child’s relatively formal attire suggests a family of some standing. Who was this child? Social historians can consult census records and genealogical databases to piece together who lived in Belgium and try to give a name to this face. Doing so is a vital step in understanding the cultural values of the past.