Portret van een oude man met een bontmuts op 1860 - 1880

Editor: This is a gelatin silver print, “Portret van een oude man met een bontmuts op”—Portrait of an old man with a fur cap—by Franz Wilhelm Deutmann, created sometime between 1860 and 1880. It’s currently at the Rijksmuseum. What immediately strikes me is the fragility, this fleeting sense of time, given the photographic technique and the somewhat faded image. What do you see in this piece? Curator: The gentleman seems like a quiet observer of history. Look at those eyes – have they seen empires rise and fall, perhaps? He wears his respectability on his sleeve, doesn’t he? Or rather, in his precisely buttoned waistcoat and fur cap. I wonder, did he choose that outfit with intention or was it the photographer’s vision? How do you read his expression? Does it tell a story? Editor: There’s a certain… stoicism? It’s hard to read too much into a still image, but you get the feeling there's a wealth of experience there. He is not necessarily trying to be a character, more he is bearing himself. The way that photographic portraits froze real individuals, I’m fascinated by how it felt at that very instant! Curator: Absolutely! The very act of sitting for a photograph then would have been more involved, imbued with anticipation and gravitas. This particular print offers us a glimpse into not just the sitter, but the mindset of the era, the beginnings of photography as an accessible means of portraiture, a democratisation of sorts in capturing one's likeness. How marvelous is that? Editor: It’s almost like looking at a time capsule. Thinking about what this man saw and experienced versus the world we live in today... it really puts things into perspective. Curator: It does, doesn't it? Each piece of art is like a mirror, reflecting both the subject and ourselves.