Portret van een onbekend kind 1885 - 1900

This portrait of an unknown child was made in Antwerp, Belgium, by J. Van Crewel Jeune. It’s a carte-de-visite, a type of photograph that became incredibly popular in the mid-19th century. The process involved using a glass negative to produce multiple prints on albumen paper, made from egg whites. This gave the image its distinctive sepia tone and smooth surface. The prints were then mounted on card stock. This was all about reproduction and circulation: photography became less about unique documents, and more about mass media. The popularity of cartes-de-visite coincided with the rise of industrial capitalism, offering a relatively affordable way for people to participate in visual culture. This is a powerful reminder that even seemingly simple images are deeply embedded in social and economic contexts. The very making of this object speaks to the shifting landscape of labor, and the democratization of art in the modern era.