Portret van een meisje 1860 - 1900

This “Portret van een Meisje” by Samuel A. Cohner is a photographic print, likely albumen, mounted onto card. The sepia tones of the image speak to its process. Cohner would have prepared a glass plate with a light-sensitive emulsion, exposed it briefly in the camera, and then developed the negative. A print could then be made using albumen paper, so-called for its coating of egg white. The image's tones would have emerged in relation to light exposure. The choice of this photographic process reveals a lot about class in the 19th century. Photography was becoming democratized, yet a formal studio portrait like this still suggested a degree of affluence. Think of the labor involved in producing this image: from the photographer with their specialist knowledge, to the farm workers who raised the chickens. Considered in this light, this "portrait of a girl" becomes a fascinating document of social relations, crystallized through the seemingly simple act of capturing a likeness.