Portrait of boy on tricycle. Rio de Janeiro Brazil. Circa 1875.

Albumen vintage photographic copy. “Carte-de-visite” format, measures: 9 x 5.7 cm / 3.54 x 2.24 in, mounted on a cardboard printed on the front and back with the references to the photographic signature: “Photographia - Chromotypia. Carneiro, Silva & Tavares. Successors of Carneiro & Gaspar. 54 Rua de Goncalves Dias. Rio de Janeiro". Exemplar in good condition.

Since the beginning of professional photography, the studio posed portrait represented the juiciest part of the business, precisely because of its enormous volume of production. The expensive daguerreotypes were followed by inexpensive business cards, a negative-positive process that flooded those bright ateliers with new clients.

In this universe of representation and social ostentation of men and women in front of immortal cameras, children became photographers' nightmare. It is that in that strange gallery of aerial pose, with threatening bras, huge cameras, mirrors, glasses and various curtains, the logical panic seized the little ones. The solution came from the hand of a whole battery of children's toys provided by the same studio, from the famous whistling "bird" to this luxurious tricycle-horse that enchants the little two-year-old in our image.

Joaquim Feliciano Alves Carneiro was an outstanding professional for more than thirty years in both Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro; his successful signature turned through various business partnerships. Between the years 1876 and 1883, the firm Carneiro, Silva & Tavares -with a studio in the central Rúa de Goncalves Dias N ° 54- offered its Rio de Janeiro clients photographs and chromotypes backed by the medals and awards obtained in different exhibitions.

We appreciate the information provided by Brazilian photographic historian Boris Kossoy.