Portret van de schilder Frans Gonz, ten voeten uit 1861

Joseph Dupont captured this full-length portrait of the painter Frans Gonz using a carte-de-visite, a small photograph popular in the mid-19th century. Dupont, who worked during a time of burgeoning photography, presents Gonz in a manner befitting a respected artist of the era. Gonz's clothing and poised stance speak to the conventions of bourgeois male portraiture, but it also communicates a sense of artistic identity through his slightly disheveled hair. Consider how class and occupation are performed through clothing. The trappings of wealth and the tools of labor can often be found in conversation with one another, as they are here. The photograph reflects a moment in which artistic identity was being both solidified and challenged, caught between tradition and modernity. This image serves as a looking glass into the complex interplay between personal expression and societal expectations.