Portret van een zittende baby, aangeduid als Paul Verstraete 1895 - 1920

This is a photograph by G. Lievens, called "Portrait of a Sitting Baby," whose name is possibly Paul Verstraete. It's a small, intimate glimpse, almost like a secret. The limited grayscale palette gives it a timeless quality, turning a specific moment into something universal about infancy and memory. What strikes me is how Lievens coaxes so much from so little – the subtle gradations in tone, from the bright highlights on the baby's skin to the deep shadows in the folds of the fabric. Look closely at the way the light catches the baby's face, soft yet defined. It's the kind of attention to detail that elevates a simple portrait to something extraordinary. It reminds me a little of Julia Margaret Cameron, with that same eye for capturing the essence of a person, rather than just a likeness. In both artists, there's this sense of reaching beyond the surface, trying to grasp something deeper about what it means to be human, or in this case, what it means to be a baby on the cusp of everything.