Portret van een onbekende vrouw, zittend aan tafel 1854 - 1889

This portrait of an unknown woman was captured by Disdéri & Co. using photography, sometime in the mid-19th century. In this period, photography democratized portraiture. Prior to this, only the wealthy could afford to have their likeness captured by a painter, usually for display in their private homes. The rise of commercial photography studios shifted this dynamic. Studios such as Disdéri mass-produced images, making portraiture accessible to the middle classes and working classes. This image signals a shift in social values, a move towards self-representation and documentation of everyday life beyond the aristocracy. To understand this photograph more deeply, we might explore studio practices of the time, examining how they marketed themselves and the social backgrounds of their clientele. We can consider how this new form of visual representation changed the way people saw themselves and others in the rapidly evolving social landscape of 19th-century Europe.