Portret van een man met een snor c. 1860 - 1880

Cornelis Johannes Richardus Pels captured this small photographic portrait of a moustachioed man sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. The man’s formal attire and carefully groomed appearance speak to the rising importance of bourgeois respectability in the Netherlands during this period, when anxieties about class boundaries and social mobility were high. Photographic portraiture was becoming increasingly accessible to the middle class. The format of the image is a carte-de-visite, a calling card, which suggests the sitter wanted to present himself in a professional and dignified light, in line with the values of his social group. Understanding this image requires us to delve into the photographic archives, studio records, and social histories of the Netherlands during this era. The photograph is both a personal representation and a reflection of larger social currents.