We have noted boys wearing low-cut ruffled necklines in the early 19th century. These low-cut necklines were worn on both dresses before breaching and skeleton suits after breaching. The children weearing them are younger children normally up to about age 6 years although we have seen older boys as well. The boy here wears a lowcut jacket with ruffled trim as part of a skeleton suit. The bottom of the portrait suggests that he is wearing a skeleton suit. You can see the buttons on the highwaist of the suit. He looks abpout 3-4 years old. we might have guessed a little older, but his hair suggests a younger boy. He dfinitely is a boy because he is pictured with a book. In early paintings, books almost always indicated the child was a boy. At the time, the education og girls was normally considered of little importance. We are guessing that this portait was painted in the 1810s.
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