Portret van een vrouw met hoed, staand bij een stoel 1857 - 1862

Walter Damry's diminutive portrait presents a standing woman in a hat, captured in a constructed studio setting. The image's sepia tones imbue it with a sense of historical distance, while the delicate rendering of the subject and the background suggests a meticulous, formal approach. The composition is carefully arranged: the woman's figure, framed by the gentle curve of a painted backdrop and architectural elements, exudes a poised stillness. The balance between light and shadow emphasizes the texture of her dress and the soft contours of her face, inviting us to consider the interplay between surface and depth. There is an underlying tension between the natural and the artificial. The stylized backdrop hints at an outdoor idyll, yet it remains clearly a fabrication, thus drawing attention to the constructed nature of representation itself. The woman, positioned almost as a sculptural form, invites us to reflect on how identity is both revealed and concealed through the act of portraiture.