Sculptuur van een huilend kind voor een bak met bloemen 1873

This photograph by Klösz captures a sculpture of a crying child next to a pot of flowers. Without knowing the specific time and place this image was made, we can still make some historically grounded observations. Sculptures of children became popular in the 19th century, reflecting a changing view of childhood as a time of innocence and vulnerability. This sculpture, however, complicates the sentimental view of children, as the crying child hints at the hardships of childhood. The flowers next to the child could be read as a symbolic reference to loss, death, or mourning. The making of images also became increasingly institutionalized in the 19th century. To fully understand the social and cultural significance of the photograph, we might explore 19th-century attitudes towards children and death by looking at historical documents and cultural artifacts from the time.