Interieur van de familie De Schamphelaere (Gent, België) met een vrouw piano spelend en een meisje declamerend (?) c. 1890 - 1910

Oswald De Schamphelaere created this stereoscopic image depicting a domestic scene in Ghent, Belgium. The photograph presents a window into the world of a bourgeois family, spotlighting the expected roles and pastimes of women and girls in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The interior, with its ornate chandelier and patterned wallpaper, speaks of a comfortable lifestyle, further emphasized by the presence of a piano, an instrument strongly associated with feminine accomplishment and domestic entertainment. A woman sits at the piano, while a young girl stands, book in hand, possibly reciting or declaiming. These activities represent not only leisure, but also forms of cultural capital, reinforcing the family's social status. The performance-like arrangement suggests a carefully constructed image of family harmony and cultural refinement. The photograph gives insight into the gendered expectations and cultural values of the era. It subtly evokes both the privileges and constraints that defined the lives of women and girls in bourgeois society.