"Hidden Mother" Photographs



The seemingly bizarre tintype shown above is an example of a nineteenth-century image created using the "hidden mother" technique, explained at Accidental Mysteries:
You see, most infants during that time were photographed with their mothers holding them. The intended picture was ultimately headed for a frame or mat, so the child would sit in the mothers lap for the photo. When the picture was taken, the mother simply was cropped out to serve as the backdrop.

Additional examples may be seen at links here and here, and in this Flickr group pool.

Link.

I have a picture like that! It was for a child about three generations back from me, in my late husband's family. Not cropped, but was probably once in a frame with a mat. We argued about whether there was a person behind the baby or not, because it was so weird to see someone right in the middle of a picture "hiding" under what looked to be a tablecloth.
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That's how my son's first photo was taken so he would not fuss when photographed because he wasn't being held and also to hold him upright without fear of falling. His mom remained under a fur blanket. While this was 20 years ago, imagine the longer exposure and set times of photo studio visits past.
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