Portrait of a Baby
Medium
crayon enlargement
Dimensions
overall: 50.9 x 40.6 cm (20 1/16 x 16 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Charles Isaacs and Carol Nigro
Accession Number
2006.169.1
Art Historical Context
**Portrait of a Baby**, created by an anonymous American artist in the 1880s, captures the tender innocence of infancy through an innovative "crayon enlargement". This medium involved photographically enlarging a small image onto paper, then hand-coloring it with crayons or pastels to mimic the soft, painterly effects of traditional portraiture. Measuring 20 1/16 x 16 inches, it bridges the gap between emerging photography and fine art, making lifelike family portraits accessible to middle-class households during a time when cameras were revolutionizing personal commemoration. In the late 19t...
About the Artist
American 19th Century
The artist cataloged as "American, 19th Century" represents a collective of unidentified painters active in the United States during the nineteenth century, with 380 known artworks preserved in this virtual museum's collection. These works span a diverse array of genres typical of the era, including portraits, landscapes, still lifes, and genre scenes, reflecting the burgeoning artistic output of ...