Portret van een vrouw leunend op een stoel 1861 - 1874

Albert Greiner made this albumen print portrait of a woman leaning on a chair sometime in the mid-19th century. Photography in this period became a tool for solidifying social status. The woman's formal attire, the ornate chair, and the backdrop curtain signal her middle-class position. Yet, the small size of the photograph and its placement in an album suggest a more intimate, personal function, quite distinct from the grand portraits of the aristocracy. Such images, mass-produced and relatively inexpensive, democratized portraiture, making it accessible to a wider segment of society. The rise of photography also intersects with the development of museums as public institutions. As photo collections grew, they demanded systems of organization and display, contributing to the birth of photographic archives and collections within institutions like the Rijksmuseum. To understand this image fully, we must research the history of photographic technology, the fashion trends of the time, and the collecting practices of institutions. Through this we can start to understand the complex relationship between art, society, and the institutions that shape our understanding of both.