The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of April 24, 2024
Dead Child On a Sofa
c. 1855
Image: 6.3 x 8.7 cm (2 1/2 x 3 7/16 in.); Case: 11.8 x 9.4 cm (4 5/8 x 3 11/16 in.); Mounted: 8.2 x 10.7 cm (3 1/4 x 4 3/16 in.); Matted: 50.8 x 61 cm (20 x 24 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 2002.35
Location: not on view
Description
This carefully staged daguerreotype of a dead child is an outstanding example of a very common subject: the postmortem portrait. Using the stylistic conventions of the day, the unidentified artist successfully created a visually pleasing scene, despite the nature of the image. Dressed in white with a bouquet of flowers on the chest, the child, seen in profile, reclines on an elaborately patterned sofa. Delicate flesh tones were added to the cheek and arm, suggestive of a healthy child sleeping. The high rate of infant mortality throughout the 19th century made this variety of portraiture common, satisfying the emotional need of the parents to have a lasting memory of a loved one.- (Charles Isaacs Photographs, Inc., New York, NY)June 3, 2002The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- Cheating Death: Portrait Photography’s First Half Century. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 22, 2016-February 5, 2017).Icons of American Photography: A Century of Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 24-September 16, 2007); Frick Art and Historical Center, Pittsburgh, PA (October 3, 2009-January 3, 2010).Charles Isaacs and Carol Nigro Collection of American Photography. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 26-September 10, 2003).
- {{cite web|title=Dead Child On a Sofa|url=false|author=|year=c. 1855|access-date=24 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2002.35