Portret van twee mannen in Volendamse klederdracht, zittend aan een tafel c. 1900 - 1910

This photograph shows two men in Volendamse clothing seated at a table and was made by G. Hidderley. The monochromatic palette gives a peek into the past, but what I like is the detail in the textures; you can see the weave of the fabric in their caps and the roughness of their wooden shoes. I keep coming back to the way the light catches the side of the man on the right’s face, highlighting the lines etched by time, there is a feeling of reverence for the every day here. It's about aging, about the comfort of companionship, about the quiet dignity of ordinary life. The photograph makes me think of a Vermeer painting, those quiet domestic scenes, painted with light and shadow. Like Vermeer, Hidderley transforms the mundane into something beautiful. It shows us how art can be found in the simplest of moments and how the artist can have an ongoing dialogue with history.