Portret van een man in militair uniform 1873 - 1889

This portrait of a man in military uniform was made by Quido Trapp in the 19th century. The photograph is mounted in an oval frame on a larger card, possibly as part of an album. In nineteenth-century Europe, photography studios became powerful institutions, dictating norms of representation and solidifying social hierarchies through visual codes such as pose, attire, and background. Here, the man’s crisp uniform and confident profile view convey authority and status in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His jacket is buttoned high, and a medal is pinned to his breast. Though small in scale, such images performed important social work, connecting individual identity to larger structures of power. To better understand this image, we can research military dress, the history of photography studios, and systems of nobility. The meaning of this small portrait lies in its connection to those social and institutional histories.