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We believe that the portrait here is a an Austrian photographic portrait. We are not positive about this, but note that the photograph was offered for sale by a Vienna dealer in old photographs. If it had not been for this we would have assumed that the child was French. The photograph is undated, but we believe that it was taken in the early 1950s. We are quite confident that the child is a boy. The long hair makes him look like a girl, but very young children like this might still have long hair. We believe that the romers suggest that the child is a boy. I'm not sure about the color of the romper suit, but believe it might be a light-blue outfit.
We believe that the portrait here is a an Austrian photographic portrait, but we are not at all sure. We are not positive about this, but note that the photograph was offered for sale by a Vienna dealer in old photographs. If it had not been for this we would have assumed that the child was French. Of course the mere fact that the photograph was for sale in Vienna is only the most tenuous evidence of Austrian origin. In Europe ones often finds photographs from many different countries for sale in stoes. A French reader is not sure that this is an Austrin boy. "I am not sure this is an Austrian boy. I have never seen a such a garment in Austria. I was a boy who lived in Austria during the 1950s and have since often visited Austria. I have never seen rompers like this there are in Austrian photographs. I have never seen such rompers in any Austrian photographic collections. I often look at photographs concerning Austrian families. I have never seen an Austrian boy dressed in a one-piece romper. The puffed short pants and baloon sleeves look French to me. This sort of collar was called a col bavette was quite typical before World War II and was very common on baby rompers. This sort of collar could sometime be detached. The classic French romper after World War II was made with a " plastron " wich was always embroidered, smocked, or pleated. Most of the time they were made with little Peter Pan collars. Puffed sleeve were common for the summer outfits. Normaly he classic one-piece rompers had a big bow in the back. The classic French romper appeared in 1936. Around this date, one could seen different variation such as the one seen in the portrait here. The commun point was the puffed short pants. After the War the mothers were very creaiveand imaginative with the clothes they madevat home. They picked here or there
material , patterns; many romper were made by mothers themself probably alike the outfit worn by this little boy. In summary, I think this photo is more likely from the late 1930s and 40s and was more likely French or Belgian perhaps even Dutch than Austrian. I also note that it was very popular to have a portrait of a boy taken with a flower or favorite toy in his hands."
The photograph is undated, but we believe that it was taken in the early 1950s, but again we are not sure. Our French reader also writes, "I also do not think that this photograph was taken in the 1950s. I would guess it was from the late 1930s or 40s."
I'm not sure about the color of the romper suit, but believe it might be a light-blue outfit.
The long hair makes him look like a girl, but very young children like this might still have long hair. Very stylish mothers might keep their boys' hair long until they were 3-4 years old. We are not positive about the chronology here. As we are not sure about the fate or even the country here, this is a little difficult to assess. Some boys instead of curls like this had choupettes. These boys by at least age 5 years would have their hair cut short, most had their hair cut early. This usually occurred when they entered nursery school at 3-5 years of age. Boys by this time would always have short hair when they enteresed primary school at 6 years of age. Notice this little boy has a " barrette " in his hair. This word is the same into French and English. The German word was " Eine Spange ".
We believe that the rompers suggest that the child is a boy. Here we are more sure than other aspects of the portrait. A reader writes, "Yes I am absolutly sure that you are correct that the child here is a boy. This sort of romper was only for boys. Note that this little boy is holding a ball. A girl would have had a doll. Usually props like toys, flowers, and dolls were normally there at the studio."
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