Portret van een onbekende jongen, staande voor een muur c. 1865 - 1900

Laurens Lodewijk Kleijn made this photographic portrait of an unknown boy sometime in the 19th century. The boy stands stiffly before us, a barred window looming behind him. Photography in the Netherlands at this time, as elsewhere, was becoming increasingly associated with the power of the state. Think of police mugshots, or the photographic records of colonial subjects. Is there a hint of this here? The barred window and formal pose certainly evoke a sense of institutional control. But there's also something ambiguous about the image. The boy's clothes, though worn, suggest a degree of respectability. Is he an orphan, perhaps, or a ward of the state? His identity remains frustratingly out of reach. To know more, one might delve into the archives of Dutch orphanages and reform schools. Ultimately, this photograph reminds us that the meaning of art is always shaped by its social and institutional context.