As fotografias de "anjos" no Brasil do século XIX

Abstract

This paper examines the photographs of dead children taken in São Paulo in the 19th century, as a means to understand the sensibilities in relation to death at the time as well as certain changes that occurred in this domain. The analytical strategy adopted by the author focuses on the identification, in the photographic material, of the elements that constituted the practices and representations relating to deceased children, the origins of which are far older than the practice of photographing "angels". Likewise, he looks into the elements associated with the changes that took place in this sphere during the second half of the 19t h century, which he believes accompanied and fostered not only the advent but also the extinction of this custom.