[Hermine, Alfons and Eugen Antoine and Mathias Häusermann on a fallen tree] 1850s - 1860s

Franz Antoine's "Hermine, Alfons and Eugen Antoine and Mathias Häusermann on a fallen tree" (1850s - 1860s) is a daguerreotype, a popular photographic process of the 19th century. The image captures a candid moment of the Antoine family and a friend, with the adults and children posed casually, the children seated on a fallen tree trunk. The use of natural light and the lack of formal staging highlight the informality of the composition, typical of early photography. This evocative family portrait is housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.