Babies, Babies, Babies

While I’ve yet to come across a carte de visite of an infant, the era of the cabinet card photograph brought about an explosion of baby portraits.

For some reason, most babies were photographed solo. The prodigy was usually dressed in an extremely long white garment, probably a christening gown.

Here is a typical cabinet card photograph of a baby by the Julius Hebbel Studio. Hebbel babies were often photographed on one of his elaborate wicker seats.