Boy or Girl?
Boys and girls were traditionally dressed similarly until a certain age. Here are some things to look for that will help you in determining the sex of a child in portraiture:
1. Props: Boys were seen holding “masculine” things such as instruments and weapons. Depending on the time period, this could also include books. Girls were not often shown with a toy that wasn't a doll.
Boys and girls were traditionally dressed similarly until a certain age. Here are some things to look for that will help you in determining the sex of a child in portraiture:
1. Props: Boys were seen holding “masculine” things such as instruments and weapons. Depending on the time period, this could also include books. Girls were not often shown with a toy that wasn't a doll.
2. Hair: Boys usually have short hair parted on one side, although this isn’t always the case. If wearing a cap, a boy may have bunches of hair coming out from under it. Girls always have longer hair if old enough, usually parted in the middle.
3. Clothes: Boys’ clothing tends to be less embellished than a girl’s and darker in color. Their dresses are usually higher-necked and may include a belt. If the picture is from a time when bodices tapered to a “v”, their bodices often do not, or at least not to the same degree. Girls tend to wear lightly colored clothes, sometimes red. Their dresses closely match the ones worn by their mom.
4. The child’s age: Breeching, the time when a boy would be given his first pair of pants, could come at any time for a boy between the ages of four and eight, although the most common age by the 18th century was about four or five. By the early 20th century, it was rare for boys to wear dresses no matter what the age. During the 19th century, especially the early and mid-19th century, it was common for both sexes to wear pantalettes under their dresses during the day. Girls' pantalettes were often wide-legged and lacy while boys may have sometimes worn something plainer or more akin to trousers. Younger boys usually wore the same lacy pantalettes as their sisters.
There are more, of course, but these are the big ones. Sometimes it may even be impossible to tell the sex of the child without identification of the sitter.