Victorian Photo poses (Nathan Tuck)

[blueskyehelen]

Hi, I have a question regarding Victorian photo poses. Most family shots seem to have the children in front of the parents but in this photo of my Great Grandfather (Nathan Tuck) he is standing behind the couple who appear to be sitting. According to our mother the couple were Nathan's parents, a statement us kids never questioned until recently when I mentioned to my brother that it seems weird there are no other children and that he is standing behind the couple. Was this the norm when children were photographed with Grandparents or other elderly relatives? Or is there no real Victorian photo etiquette with where people stood or sat in relation to each other?
The other question is any possible info the photo shows from the clothing etc? All we know is that Nathan was born around 1872 and left Russia at some time and married a Sarah Slomowitz, having their first child in Denmark in 1894 before settling in England. He may have gone to Poland first. As he looks around 10-12 years in age the photo may have been taken around 1882-4. Am I right? Apparently from what we have been told the family were Russian Jews and the elderly man in the photo, a Rabbi. To complicate matters further we do not know their Russian surname as apparently they changed it to Tuck on entering England.

[Handypandy]

I say this only as an observation as I am certainly no expert, but the old chap is wearing the Shepherds Cross, which I believe was sometimes worn instead of the Magen David. If he is the Rabbi, maybe it was the boys bar mitzva ?

[jim1]

As an older Russian woman she may not have kept up with Western European fashion so it's only going to be possible to give a rough date without seeing all of the cardstock & the back. I would suggest 1880's - 1890's.

[tonepad]

'Tuch' is a German and Jewish surname. May have been anglicised to 'Tuck'

[Treetotal]

Hi Helen and welcome to Rootschat...you may want to consider Tucholski

https://www.familyeducation.com/baby-names/browse-origin/surname/polish?page=27

Carol

[billkent]

The photograph is in reverse judging by the boys jacket buttons.

[jim1]

The photograph is in reverse judging by the boys jacket buttons.

Boy's double-breasted's fastened both ways.

[blueskyehelen]

I say this only as an observation as I am certainly no expert, but the old chap is wearing the Shepherds Cross, which I believe was sometimes worn instead of the Magen David. If he is the Rabbi, maybe it was the boys bar mitzva ?

Thanks Handypandy, never even thought of this. Could very well have been the case. A Bar Mitzva could explain why he is so well dressed.

[blueskyehelen]

As an older Russian woman she may not have kept up with Western European fashion so it's only going to be possible to give a rough date without seeing all of the cardstock & the back. I would suggest 1880's - 1890's.

Thanks for your reply. Am looking into who in the family has the original. What I posted is only a scan of a photocopy and a bad photocopy at that as the boy's head is cropped.