Groepsportret van vier onbekende kinderen 1875 - 1915

This photograph by Johannes Leonardus van der Heijden captures four unknown children in Amsterdam. Notice the accoutrements of innocence: the ribbon tied at the neck of the standing child, the small boots, the implicit vulnerability in their gazes. The ribbon evokes earlier, more elaborate forms of neckwear, a sartorial lineage tracing back to symbols of status and formality. Think of the ruffs worn by the European elite in the 16th century, visual declarations of power and wealth, later softened into the bows of the bourgeoisie. Here, the ribbon appears as a vestige, a softening—dare I say, a sentimentalising—of aristocratic display. It speaks to a broader cultural narrative, a psychological dance between the desire for distinction and the embrace of unadorned sincerity. This echoes a recurring motif in art: the transformation of symbols across time, echoing through the corridors of memory.