Portret van een jongeman met een boek in de hand 1866 - 1870

This is a photograph by J. Wijnman portraying a young man holding a book. The book, a potent symbol, immediately commands our attention. Since antiquity, books have been associated with knowledge, wisdom, and learning. From the ancient scrolls of the Library of Alexandria to the illuminated manuscripts of the Middle Ages, the book has been a repository of collective human experience. Notice how the young man holds it—almost reverently—as if he's cradling the world's secrets. This reverence for the written word is also seen in religious iconography, where sacred texts are often depicted as divine gifts, a means of understanding the cosmos. Think of the Torah scrolls in Judaism, or the Bible in Christianity; these texts embody moral and spiritual authority. The act of holding the book becomes a declaration of identity, a nod to the young man’s intellectual aspirations, reflecting humanity’s perennial quest for understanding.