The first photographic images in the late 1820s had to be exposed for hours in order to capture them on film. Improvements in the technology led to this exposure time being drastically cut down to minutes, then seconds, throughout the 19th century. But in the meantime, the long exposures gave us a few unmistakable Victorian photography conventions, such as the stiff postures and unsmiling faces of people trying to remain perfectly still while their photograph was being taken.
Seems children were just as squirmy then as they are today, because another amusing convention developed: photographs containing hidden mothers trying to keep their little ones still enough for a non-blurry picture. These fantastic portraits of children (found via Retronaut) all contain their mother, disguised as chairs or camoflauged under decorative throws behind them. Can you spot all the mothers (and one father)? More after the jump!
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Via Retronaut and The Hidden Mother flickr group. Thank you so much to my own lovely mother for sending me the link to these images! I promise next time we take a family photo we won’t make you hide under a blanket.
A lot of the hidden parent scheme was used as a last farewell also. The majority of the Victorian photos that I’ve seen that implement this are ones that depict deceased children. I am almost certain that the last picture shows a deceased subject. i’m sure that you already knew all of this info based on your profile information but I had to type it because it makes me feel important! Hah! BTW the Victorian era of photography was extremely…. well…..interesting to say the least.
I didn’t know that! These hidden mother pictures were already kind of unsettling, but that just takes them to a whole new level. Thanks for the terrific comment!
Actually it looks like four of them are deceased imo. Memento mori is a very interesting aspect of the wealthy Victorian lifestyle.
Is that why they’ve tinted the cheeks in some of the pictures of the babies? To make them appear alive? Very very interesting.
Many many photos were tinted, it was considered an art form. I have many photos of very alive babies with tinted cheeks. :-) I also have several hidden mother photos, some are really creepy huh?
I agree that Victorian era photography was interesting aka bizarre. The covered parents in these pictures are just disturbing. Which picture do you think has a deceased child? They all look alive to me, but I’m often wrong.
If you look at the second picture on the first page you can see a stand right behind the little boy. They would actually strap or suspend the children or person to show them in a life like form. Sometimes if you look at the limbs and notice just how stiff they look or if the eyes are focused on a crazy angle away from the center of the shot are indications of a deceased subject. Sometimes, also, they would paint the pupils on the eyelids of the person if they’re eyes were shut! Craziness!
Ok; pictures 2 and 3 are 100% photographs of deceased children. Look closely behind them and you can see a prop stand. Then shots 1,4,6,8,9,11,12,and 13 look like deceased children. The pink hue is from the outside application, it helps make the child look alive. When they first utilized this style of production they were able to apply simple colors to the end result. Other words early color photography!
That is so cool, and completely creepy. Thanks for the great info and the sharp eye!
Your welcome!
I disagree about photo 3. The positioning stands were used especially in early photography because of the long exposure time. I think photo 3 is just a photo of a little girl. People were also directed to look away from the camera because it was less likely their eyes would blur. Actually I disagree about most of these photos being memento mori. #2 looks strange because the child appears to be looking up and due to the long exposures it would have been difficult and tiring to hold the gaze looking up for that long. That would I would buy as being a memento mori, but none of the others.
Honestly if you think about it why would the mother or father cover themselves? why not just have the picture taken with them shown? I guess they wanted to have one last shot of their children alone, unbridled and proud in nature. I’m going to stop now I’m starting to ramble lol.
This is so cool Chelsea! I love the extra info from Static Instants as well. Painting pupils on the closed eyelids of the deceased? Very macabre!
Thanks for the interesting read.
Thanks Heather!
None of these children are dead. The parent, typically the mother, would hide under a covering to hold the child in place during the exposure. If you research actual Memento Mori photo’s you’ll mostly see the dead person/child usually either in a casket or posed as if sleeping, and on occasion they’ll pose a person sitting. In typical Momento Mori poses you won’t see the same shrouded guardian as the subject isn’t moving anyway during the long exposure times.
Here is a good example of Momento Mori:
http://cogitz.com/2009/08/28/memento-mori-victorian-death-photos/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-mortem_photography
Think about it. There has to be something/someone holding the corpse in post mortem victorian era shots. Why would they use a stand behind subjects other than to prop them in place? If it was indeed part of the back drop then it would’ve been in frame and available to plain sight. Wrong or right I can guarantee that shots 2 and 3 are post mortem in fact. If you closely at the child with his “eyes” looking upward. To me this indicates a influence of religion and the passing of the soul. We’ll never know I guess!
Besides why would children above the age of 5 really need someone holding them still? I understand infants and newborns. I agree that you are right about the mori normally being shot as sleeping or in bed surrounding by flowers and the such though (i should’ve said that earlier).
Hi. Chris (Static Instincts) follows my vintage photo blog and invited me to check out this post and thread of comments. I’d like to add a few thoughts, if it’s understood that I am NOT an expert, just a hobbyist.
First of all, Chelsea, it’s wonderful! I love these photos. Not long ago the concept of the hidden adult in child portraits was completely new and weird to me. Thanks for posting some fine examples. I suppose that, as weird as it looks to us today, it must have been an accepted convention at the time.
While most post mortem photos look like pictures of corpses (which they are), there are memento mori photos that are remarkably lifelike. Typically they are posed in bed or a coffin, but sometimes they are sitting up, posed with other relatives, etc. Sometimes their eyes are open, their cheeks tinted, etc., in an effort to show them as they were in life. So while I don’t want to wager on specific images here, there is the possibility that one or two of these might be post mortem.
It was indeed common for fidgety children to have to be restrained for the long exposure times that were required by the photographic technology of the day. Poses would have to be held for up to a minute or so, depending on the available lighting. So measures such as the hidden people shown above would be taken. Head clamps and other bracing devices were also used. I’ve even read that children were sometimes simply tied to a chair. (Photos of animals presented similar problems.) And Chris, I’m sorry to contradict, but such measures were commonly taken with adults, too. Holding even a simple pose and facial expression perfectly still for that long can be harder than it sounds. Incidentally, if you look at the floor behind the child in Photo #2, you’ll see the feet of a head clamp stand (though it appears he is getting some human help from behind the drape as well).
Here are a couple of examples from my collection that I can contribute to this discussion. The first is a covered adult holding a baby. (I recently found another one in my boxes that I’ll have to post soon.) The handwritten notes on the back indicate he died at age 17, so he wouldn’t have been dead in this picture. My comments reflect the fact that the convention was new to me at the time I posted it:
http://picsofthen.com/2011/07/30/funny-cdv-of-infant-with-shrouded-adult
And here is an example of post mortem photos:
http://picsofthen.com/2011/11/02/dia-de-los-muertos
I read on another site that the photos were displayed and thus the hidden adult would be cropped out. So, hung on the wall in a frame with a mat, maybe they did not look so creepy.
These are creepy cool! I love this post Chelsea. :)
that is hilarious and very very very odd indeed!! Just popping by from pinterest!