Fotoreproductie van een prent naar een schilderij, voorstellende herder met een kudde koeien before 1869

This is a photographic reproduction of a pastoral scene, made at an unknown date by an anonymous maker. The image shows a herdsman watching over his cattle in a field – a subject that had been popular in painting for centuries. But here, the means of production have radically shifted. This isn't painted by hand; instead, it’s been captured through a lens and fixed chemically onto paper. Consider what this shift implies. While a painting of this kind might have been commissioned by a wealthy patron, this photograph is relatively democratic, and easily reproduced. It brings the imagery of rural life to a wider audience, at a time when industrialization was rapidly changing the social landscape. The photographic process flattens the image, losing the texture and depth that would have been present in the original painting or print. Yet, this very act of mechanical reproduction creates its own kind of aesthetic, one deeply intertwined with the social and technological transformations of its era. By considering the materiality of photography, we see how new methods of making transform not only the image itself, but also the way it circulates in the world.