Portret van een zittende baby 1886 - 1902

Editor: Here we have a gelatin-silver print, "Portret van een zittende baby," created by Willem Bernard Bekkering sometime between 1886 and 1902. The baby's expression is so cheeky and joyous. What do you make of the choice to present this portrait in a photograph rather than, say, a painting? Curator: The photographic portrait, especially of children, becomes popular at this time. It speaks to a rising middle class and its desire to preserve images of family, creating lasting emblems of identity. Do you notice anything else about the framing? Editor: Now that you mention it, the oval frame feels a little old-fashioned, almost like a cameo. It doesn't feel modern, though photography was fairly new then. Curator: Exactly! It's holding onto older visual traditions. That oval echoes the painted miniature portraits of previous eras. Think about what symbols, conscious or unconscious, families hoped to project when choosing a portrait style like this. It becomes a cultural statement about values and aspirations. Editor: I hadn’t considered how the framing speaks to those long-held values. I thought it was just pretty! Curator: Beauty plays a key role, too! Consider how this links to the psychological importance of family portraits in constructing a personal narrative, a lineage... a sort of immortality. Editor: That's such a fascinating way to look at what seems, at first glance, like a simple baby picture. I’ll certainly never see family portraits the same way. Curator: And I will be thinking about my family albums in a new way too!