Sculptuur van een jongen spelend met een masker, in de Capitolijnse Musea te Rome 1880 - 1900

This is a photograph by James Anderson, taken sometime in the mid-19th century, depicting a sculpture in the Capitoline Museums in Rome titled 'Sculpture of a boy playing with a mask'. Anderson was part of a wave of 19th-century photographers who documented and disseminated images of classical art and architecture. This photograph, like many others of its time, catered to the burgeoning tourism industry and a fascination with classical antiquity. In this image, the tension between innocence and artifice is palpable. The sculpture presents a nude child, an image of vulnerability, playfully engaging with a theatrical mask. This dynamic raises questions about the roles we perform and the identities we construct. What does it mean to adopt a persona, and how does this relate to our understanding of self? The photograph captures this moment of transition, inviting us to reflect on the fluidity of identity and the masks we all wear.