Hidden Mother in Victorian Portraits

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! Read more.

Posted on 5 January 2012 by Chelsea Nicols
The Museum of Ridiculously Interesting Things

See also: The Hidden Mother Flickr Group