Portret van een onbekende vrouw met een hoed en een jas aan c. 1895 - 1908

This cabinet card, made by E. v.d. Kerkhoff, freezes a moment with an unknown woman in a hat and coat. It’s a sepia world, where the subtle shifts in tone become everything. Looking at the skirt, you can almost feel the weight of the fabric. It’s rendered with such care, you can see the individual folds and how the light catches on each tier. The texture’s implied more than shown, but that’s the magic of it, right? It invites you to imagine, to fill in the gaps. I love the way the background flowers blur, creating this soft haze around her. It's like memory itself, a little fuzzy around the edges but still vivid. It reminds me that art isn’t about perfect representation, it’s about capturing a feeling. Like, what was it like to be her at that moment? I think about how artists like Gerhard Richter play with similar ideas, blurring the line between reality and abstraction, inviting the viewer to question what they're seeing.