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Here we have three brothers. The boys are unidentified. We think they may be a Jewish family. If so the portrait is notable for how assimilated thefamily clearly is in German society. Two boys are about the same age. They had their portait taken with their younger brother. The older boys look to be teenagers about 13-15 years old. They wear matching kneepants suits. Curiously they are dressed exactly alike, including the collars, except that their hosiery is different. Note the caps. I am not sure if these are school caps. One boy wears socks and the other long stockings. I'm not sure how to account for this difference, especially because eveything else about them is so carefully identical. Their younger brother wears a kneepants sailor suit. He looks to be about 8 years old. He wears socks rather than long stockings.
Here we have three brothers. The boys are unidentified. All we know for sure is that they are German We think they may be a Jewish family. If so the portrait is notable for how assimilated the family clearly is in German society. A reader writes, "WEhy do you think the boys are Jewish?" Here there is nothing about their clothing, I just thought the boy on the left looked a little Jewish, but I don't pretend to be very capable of assessing ethnicity by looks."
We have no idea where in Germany the portrait was taken.
We would guess that the portrait was taken about 1910. We would guess that it was not erly in the 1900s right after the turn of the 20th centiry. Nor do we think it was late in the 1910s. We would guess the late 1900s or early 1910s. Our HBC contributor writes, "There is no additional information. The picture is rather trimmed. Dating is difficult here. Surely something in the early 20th century."
Two boys are about the same age. They had their portait taken with their younger brother. The older boys look to be teenagers about 13-15 years old.
The boys are dressed destinctively revealing some interesting conventions and styles at the time.
Note the caps. Our HBC contributor tells us, "The cap on the right is a school cap for the "Gymnasium". I am not sure about the cap on the left. It's maybe just any cap." The cap the boy is holding looks similar but slightly different thn the one the other brother is wearing. There are different possibilites here. It could be just a cap mother picked rather than a school cap. It is possible the boys went to different schools. We think the most likely possibility was that the boys were in different classes. It was common in German schools for boys in different classes to wear caps thsat had bands in different colors. The boys also wear matching kneepants suits. Curiously they are dressed exactly alike, including the collars, except that their hosiery is different. I am not sure if these are school caps. One boy wears socks and the other long stockings. I'm not sure how to account for this difference, especially because eveything else about them is so carefully identical. We are guessing that mother chose the suits and shirt, but did not specify the hosiery. Perhaps this was governed with what was clean at the time and not that important to mother. The socks look black. The long stockings may also be black, but they could have been a dark color coordinated with the color of the suit.
Their younger brother wears a kneepants sailor suit. Note the traditional styling. He looks to be about 8 years old. He wears socks rather than long stockings.
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