Portret van een onbekend kind op een fauteuil 1864 - 1880

This photograph of an unknown child seated on a button-back armchair was made by the Delboy Brothers, sometime in the late nineteenth century. The photograph is presented in the ‘carte de visite’ format, a commercially produced visiting card, which was sold cheaply and collected in albums. Its rise coincided with the emergence of photography as a popular pursuit, but also with an increased sense of social mobility. The carte de visite allowed people to construct idealized representations of themselves, often borrowing from conventions of aristocratic portraiture. For example, the choice of a plush armchair in this image suggests social standing. Historical research into photography studios and family archives helps us to understand the relationship between the subject, the artist and the marketplace for images, revealing the social function of art in this period.