Untitled (post-mortem portrait of two children, Auburn, New York) c. 1880s

Curator: This cabinet card, currently held at the Harvard Art Museums, presents an untitled image by Squyer Studio of Auburn, New York. Editor: It’s a strangely touching image, isn’t it? The sepia tones lend it an antique, ethereal quality, but there's a profound stillness in the subjects that immediately hits you. Curator: These "resting portraits", as they were sometimes euphemistically called, served a vital social function. They offered grieving families a way to visually preserve the memory of a loved one, especially children. Editor: Note how the older child is posed as if protectively embracing the younger. This posture speaks to familial bonds, but also perhaps to a societal need to soften the blow of infant mortality through idealized imagery. Curator: Exactly. The image exists as both a private memento and a public acknowledgement of loss, navigating Victorian-era conventions around death and mourning. Editor: It makes you consider the complex ways we visually process grief, then and now.