Portret van een onbekende vrouw before 1905

This book spread with photographs by Joseph Maes is like a little stage set, two different acts or scenes presented for our consideration. The portrait on the left is dreamy, like an old master painting, but rendered with the starkness of early photography. I'm thinking, what was going through Maes’s head? What was it like to set up a shot like this? Early photography was painstaking. It required such concentration. He’s working with light, shadow, composition—all the same tools a painter uses. The other photograph is a landscape, a watery scene that is the polar opposite of the theatrical portrait. Together, they are like a duet by contrasting players. I bet Maes knew other photographers and painters, and that they all influenced one another. That’s the cool thing about art: it’s a big conversation that never ends. What will you say?