Historical Indulgences

ca. 1870-90s, [‘hidden mother’ tintype portrait of an infant in a white dress]

via Ebay

ca. 1860’s, [hand tinted “hidden mother” tintype portrait of a child]

via Cowan’s Auctions

ca. 1860-80’s, [hand tinted, hidden-mother tintype portrait of a baby]

via Ebay

ca. 1860-70’s, [tintype portrait of an apprehensive child on a chair, with a smiling mother lurking behind]

via Christopher Wahren Fine Photographs, Skylight Gallery

ca. 1860-90, [hidden mother tintype portrait of a child]

via Ebay

ca. 1880-89, [“hidden-mother” tintype portrait with three children]

Tintype showing one child held by a “hidden father” or “hidden mother” exemplifies a genre of photography in which an adult is obscured with a blanket or fabric while holding a baby or child from behind or to the side. A frame or matte was then used to crop the image so that only the intended sitters would be in view.

via Southern Methodist University, Central University Libraries, DeGolyer Library, Lawrence T. Jones III Texas photography collection

ca. 1855, [daguerreotype portrait of a mother hiding behind her child]

via the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Photography Collection

ca. 1860-1900’s, [tintype portrait of a child, supported by a cloaked figure, holding a plant]

via the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Photography Collection

ca. 1882, [tintype portrait of a woman hiding herself behind her child], Towne’s

via the American Antiquarian Society, Tintype Collection

ca. 1860’s, [portrait of a child with his hidden mother], T. P. Collins

via the KaufmaNelson Vintage Photograph Gallery

ca. 1870, [carte de visite portrait of a little girl on her mother’s lap], B.F. Howland

via KaufmaNelson Vintage Photograph Gallery

ca. 1880’s, [portrait of three children and a hidden figure]

via the Southern Methodist University Libraries, Lawrence T. Jones III Texas Photography Collection

ca. 1860’s, [portrait of a child on her mother’s lap]

via the KaufmaNelson Vintage Photograph Gallery

ca. 1865, [Unidentified Girl with Woman and Cloaked Attendant]

via the International Center of Photography

ca. 1865, [Unidentified Girl in Wheelchair with Cloaked Attendant]

via the International Center of Photography