Portret van een meisje 1860 - 1900

This is a photographic portrait of a girl, made by Elliott and Fry, a London photography studio active at the turn of the 20th century. In the 19th century, photography democratized portraiture. No longer the sole preserve of the wealthy, the emerging middle classes could now participate in visual culture. Studios such as Elliott and Fry became highly specialized production lines, with different workers responsible for posing, developing, and printing the images. The photograph itself is a chemical alchemy, light-sensitive silver salts coaxed into capturing an image on a glass plate, then transferred to paper. But it's the social context, the rise of industrial capitalism and a new consumer culture, that truly infuses this portrait with meaning. Photography, like mass-produced clothing, became a symbol of aspiration and a tool for self-fashioning. This image therefore reminds us that even the most seemingly straightforward likeness is imbued with the forces of labor, technology, and social aspiration.