Portret van een onbekende vrouw 1871 - 1877

Louis Robert Werner, an Amsterdam-based photographer, made this portrait of an unknown woman using the 19th-century technique of albumen print. To create this image, Werner coated paper with albumen, derived from egg whites, creating a smooth surface for the light-sensitive silver nitrate. The resulting print captures fine details, but with limited tonal range; look how the woman’s patterned dress appears almost flat. The albumen process, although widely adopted for its sharpness, demanded considerable labor: from separating eggs, preparing the emulsion, and printing the final image. This production mirrors the broader social issues of labor and class, embedded in the very making of the photograph. Each print, including this portrait, captures not just the likeness of the subject but also the economic and social conditions of its production. Appreciating the materials and processes used, we recognize that photography, like craft, is deeply intertwined with social and economic realities.