Portret van twee zittende peuters 1861 - 1890

This photograph of two seated toddlers was made by Albert Greiner in the late 19th century. The albumen print, a common process at the time, involved coating paper with egg white and silver nitrate, making it sensitive to light. The resulting sepia tones and soft details speak to the inherent qualities of this process, and the textures created by the developing chemicals. In the 1800s, photography democratized portraiture, which had previously been reserved for the wealthy. The rise of commercial photography studios allowed families from various social classes to capture and preserve their likenesses. The clothing of these children can tell us much about class and labor too. While time-consuming, the albumen process allowed mass production and sale, shaping social perceptions of identity, memory and status during a period of rapid industrialization and social change. Recognizing the materials and the process involved in making this photograph helps us understand its cultural significance, and how it changed the way society documented and remembered itself.