Portret van een staande man met een hand in zijn broekzak 1859 - 1874

This photograph captures a standing man with one hand nonchalantly placed in his trouser pocket, taken by Jules Géruzet. The gesture of placing a hand inside one's garment is an intriguing motif across different eras. Consider the 18th-century portraits where nobility adopted this pose to signal composure, status, and a certain nonchalance. We see echoes of this gesture in earlier Renaissance paintings, though often with slightly different implications of wealth, virtue and authority. But if we dig deeper, we might also see an unconscious expression of vulnerability, or perhaps a subtle display of hidden power, as the hand is concealed yet subtly present. This tension between concealment and display is what gives this image its enduring psychological resonance, engaging us on a deep, subconscious level. The recurring image thus evolves, accruing new layers of meaning as it resurfaces throughout time.