Portret van een onbekende jongeman 1871 - 1880

Curator: Bernhard Hakelier captured this "Portret van een onbekende jongeman," or "Portrait of an Unknown Young Man," sometime between 1871 and 1880, using the albumen print technique. Editor: He's got that wistful, almost Byronic air about him, doesn't he? Like he’s starring in his own tragic opera. You can practically hear the melancholic strains of a cello just by looking at his face. Curator: The albumen print process itself contributes to that aesthetic. Notice the subtle tonal range, the way it softens the features? This was the dominant form of photographic portraiture in the latter half of the 19th century. We see it here employed in the Realist style. Editor: It does make me wonder who he was. This photo feels so intensely personal. What were his dreams, his heartbreaks? He’s almost a ghost whispering from the past, really. Did Hakelier ever title his work something else before forgetting? Curator: What fascinates me is the sitter’s formal pose, set against the hazy backdrop. There's an interesting juxtaposition of realism in the details—look at his moustache, his hair—and something almost dreamlike about the whole presentation. Editor: And yet, he still holds my gaze so strongly across all this time! There's something eternally relatable in his thoughtful demeanor. And his attire is very well detailed! It gives me the idea that he could work at the municipality. Curator: It highlights the limitations, and strengths, of early photographic portraiture as a method for capturing a person and even perhaps an era. It can be analyzed on different formalist levels such as its structure, tone and, indeed, composition. Editor: A man from the past with a very expressive stare, what more can one ask of art? It brings you back, makes you want to read books, perhaps with a hot beverage in front of the fireplace. What an experience it gives.