It wasn't until I ran across this recent article in The New Yorker magazine that I became aware that portraits of mothers breastfeeding their babies was totally a fad in the laced-up Victorian era! A simple google image search turned up the gems shown in this post. I would love to find more...
Wow, very interesting. I love so many of these. You can almost tell which ladies are a little uncomfortable with the photo vs the ones that seem to be a little more "so what?". Regardless, they're all so beautiful!
ReplyDeleteMiranda, I think some of that discomfort or stiffness you see in the photos could be related to the fact that these people had to sit perfectly still for quite some time for the exposure to be made. They couldn't move a muscle or the image wouldn't turn out.
DeleteI am glad to know this so I can keep having photos of me bfing taken and ask my mother-in-law to keep painting pictures of us bfing. And have a reference when someone says how weird I am.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the article Overexposed. Thanks for this great post!
I love the one where she has her hand on her hip.
Wow, you have someone painting portraits of you breastfeeding! You're so lucky ;)
DeleteWow that's surprising - and fantastic! I love them!
ReplyDeleteThese are wonderful! The fourth down with mom's hand on the hip is my favorite.
ReplyDeleteI love the last sentence in that article: "Instead, someone who adored this woman and this child, kept it close, inside a pocket, secret and beloved."
ReplyDeleteMakes me a little teary, even.
Thank you for sharing this.
How cool! Love how they all look a little fierce.
ReplyDeleteLove the pics but I'm amazed that the (traditionally) squirming infants also behaved and kept absolutely still for such a long time (many minutes).
ReplyDeleteThis would make an awesome art history thesis project. :)
ReplyDeleteWow. I wonder if they drugged some of the babies to get them to make them be still for the photos? I ask also because most of the babies don't seem to be latched on very well. A couple of babies also have looks on their faces that make me wonder. The other possibility for getting them to be still is that the photos were carefully timed to be taken around nap time as babies were nursed to sleep.
ReplyDeleteI love the chunky breastfed baby legs in most of the photos. These look like well-fed, happy breastfed babies!
Amazing photos! Amazing tradition! Thanks for posting.
I know that back in the day there didnt really have someone to tell thim that its was a bad latch and alot of moms would just deal with it cuz they didnt know any different
DeleteAt that point in time, daguerreotypes of the recently deceased was also a fad. This may be the answer for the question of whether some of the babies were perhaps drugged for the pics, as they didn't seem to be latched on tightly to the nipple... perhaps these were the last photos taken of these babies before the burial.
ReplyDelete