Studioportret van Herman Marius Boelen c. 1888 - 1890

This sepia photograph of Herman Marius Boelen was taken by Albert Greiner in Amsterdam. While the date of the image is unknown, the photographer’s studio mark places it around 1889. Carte-de-visite photography like this became popular in the mid-19th century. Its emergence coincided with the rise of the middle class, advances in printing technology, and the development of a commercial photographic industry. Portraits such as this offered a new form of social representation. The sitter is posed formally, and the accoutrements on display – the fashionable clothing, the garden spade, and the architectural backdrop – speak to a particular ideal of childhood and family identity. The photographer’s brand at the bottom of the card tells us something about the institutional context in which photography like this was made. Photographic studios emerged as commercial enterprises that catered to a growing market. To understand this image better, we might turn to sources such as studio ledgers, census records, and family archives. These can tell us more about the social aspirations of the sitter and the business practices of commercial photographers during this period.