Untitled (young boy with lace collar and toy rifle) (1880s–90s): Art, History and Details

Untitled (young boy with lace collar and toy rifle) (1880s–90s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Reutlinger Studios (French, active 1850s-1937).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This portrait of a boy holding a rifle suggests an association of masculinity with militarism in that era. Many French people wanted revenge for Prussia’s annexation of Alsace-Lorraine, territories that did not return to French control at the end of World War I in 1919. Looking at this portrait in hindsight, one might wonder if this boy served in the military or was a casualty during that war.

Object facts

• Title: Untitled (young boy with lace collar and toy rifle)
• Date: 1880s–90s
• Creator attribution: Reutlinger Studios (French, active 1850s-1937)
• Culture: France, 19th century
• Type: Photograph
• Technique: gelatin silver print
• Dimensions: Image: 19.1 x 13.3 cm (7 1/2 x 5 1/4 in.)
• Collection: PH - French 19th Century
• Department: Photography
• Accession number: 2022.421

A detail from the museum

Militaristic attitudes had a strong hold in France following the country’s defeat in the 1870–71 Franco-Prussian War.

Collection credit

Gift of Nina Rosenblum and Lisa Rosenblum

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.