Portret van een onbekende jongen met een trompet 1866 - 1882

This is an albumen print by Bertall et Cie., showing an unknown boy with a trumpet. Though we cannot know for sure when this image was produced, the firm of Bertall et Cie. was active in Paris in the second half of the 19th century, and the carte-de-visite format, which is what this appears to be, was highly popular at that time. Photography had only recently been invented, and the carte-de-visite allowed even ordinary people to own a portrait of themselves, or their loved ones. But while the new medium democratized image-making in some ways, it also reproduced existing hierarchies. The young boy in this photograph, though not identified, is certainly from a well-to-do family. He is wearing clean clothes and boots, and the trumpet he holds suggests a privileged upbringing with access to musical education. To understand the full social context of images like these, we rely on a wide range of historical resources, from census data and business records to fashion magazines and musical scores. By studying these sources, we can learn more about the individuals and institutions that shaped the visual culture of the past.