Interieur van de Sint-Nicolaaskapel in Nijmegen before 1915

This black and white photograph captures the interior of the Sint-Nicolaaskapel in Nijmegen by an anonymous artist. The artist is working with what they have here, an interior space with complex light and shadow. You can see a variety of marks suggesting wear and decay, giving the image a sense of time and history. Look closely at how the texture of the stone walls is rendered. The artist doesn’t smooth over the rough surfaces but embraces it, allowing the light to catch every nook and cranny. This adds so much depth to what could have been a flat, straightforward architectural shot. See how the light pours in through the windows? It's not just illumination; it's almost a character in the scene, casting shadows that define the space. It reminds me a bit of some of the early modernist photographers, like Eugène Atget, who found beauty in the everyday and overlooked. There’s a certain honesty here. It's not about perfection but about capturing the essence of a place as it exists in time. And in that, there's a strange kind of beauty, isn't there?