Portret van een vrouw 1865 - 1895

Curator: Oh, there's something so captivating about this image. I'm drawn in by its stillness. Editor: Well, let's dive into it then. We have here a photograph entitled “Portret van een vrouw” or “Portrait of a Woman” by Thomas Martin Staas. It was made sometime between 1865 and 1895 using the albumen print process. What do you make of her? Curator: She has a very self-contained composure, don’t you think? The tight dress buttons, the very neatly arranged hair—it feels…buttoned up, yet still intimate. It has that distinct gaze that almost meets yours, as if asking to see if we acknowledge her as she saw herself. Editor: Indeed. Portraits in the 19th century weren't casual snapshots. There was a ritual to them. The subdued tones of the albumen print emphasize the solemnity, giving the photograph the quality of a relic—something deeply cherished. Note the way the oval format recalls older traditions in portrait miniatures, as if echoing an earlier era's focus on mementos and memory. Curator: Absolutely, I see what you mean about memory. What I find really beautiful is the slight blurring, especially around her hair, like she is slightly dissolving in time. Makes one feel the ephemeral, fading nature of memory itself. Editor: Yes, the slightly faded quality speaks to that passing of time, and to the cultural anxieties around the Victorian concept of mourning. Consider the dark jewelry she’s wearing, probably mourning jewelry containing a lock of hair. It makes one wonder about who she mourned, and what was lost. The portrait in that sense isn’t simply representation; it's a repository. Curator: Right, and to think this quiet image probably was commissioned to commemorate, and now centuries later we're pondering upon it again! This photograph, its inherent nostalgia, gets beautifully complex after more thinking! Editor: Precisely. So, a seemingly simple portrait reveals hidden layers, allowing us to contemplate how an image evolves into an evocative artifact across time. Curator: That is right! I can't help but wonder, what would that lady think if she could see this future conversation? It would blow her buttoned up composure, haha.