Portret van een onbekende vrouw, aangeduid als Jetje Deelman 1880s

Benjamin Sanders made this photograph of an unknown woman, possibly named Jetje Deelman, in his studio in Groningen, Netherlands. The small dimensions of the print suggest that it was intended for circulation, maybe as a calling card, a practice that became popular in the Netherlands during this period. The photograph provides a window into the social conventions of the time. The woman’s posture, dress, and expression are all carefully composed to convey respectability and propriety, values prized by the Dutch middle class. The rigid formality of the pose also hints at the sitter's social status and perhaps economic privilege, since it would have cost money to visit a photography studio. Although the sitter remains anonymous to us, her image reminds us of the importance of photography as a tool for constructing and disseminating social identities in the 19th century. The archive is a great tool for historians, enabling us to trace the movement of images and the ways in which they were used to shape public opinion.