Portret van een staande vrouw bij een stoel 1855 - 1890

Turner & Co.’s photograph captures a standing woman next to a chair, a portrait frozen in time. What does it mean to be a woman captured in the Victorian era’s photographic gaze? The elaborate dress, while signaling a certain class status, also acts as a kind of cage, shaping and restricting her movement and presence. The woman's posture, leaning slightly on the chair, hints at the constraints placed on women of the time, the expectation of poise and domesticity. Photography was in its relative infancy, it had the power to democratize portraiture, yet the rituals of sitting, posing, and the very act of capturing an image were loaded with social implications. How much agency did this woman truly have in constructing her own image? This photograph is more than just a visual record; it's an emotional artifact, reflecting the complex interplay between identity, representation, and the silent narratives of women in history.