Portret van een onbekend kind met twee honden 1890

Charles Théodore Bernier created this print of an unknown child with two dogs in the late 19th or early 20th century. Prints such as this one served as a cost-effective way for middle-class families to participate in a culture of portraiture that was previously reserved for the wealthy. Bernier was an engraver and printmaker. He used a refined and highly skilled technique to make his prints. The child in this portrait is dressed in finery, perhaps mimicking the dress of nobility, with their loyal hunting dogs at their side. As we contemplate the image, questions arise about the child's identity, status, and future. What narratives and social roles are being projected onto them? How does this depiction, with its echoes of aristocratic portraiture, reinforce or challenge existing social hierarchies? This image invites us to reflect on the complex interplay of identity, representation, and social class.