Eerbetoon Vrijwillige Jagers aan Edmond Willem van Dam isselt bij zijn graf 1868

This photograph, its maker now unknown, captures a tribute to Edmond Willem van Dam van Isselt by the Voluntary Hunters at his graveside. Photography in this period relied on a complex chemical process. Light-sensitive materials, often silver halides, were carefully prepared and exposed to light within a camera obscura. The resulting image, a latent impression, had to be chemically developed to become visible and fixed to prevent further light exposure. The sepia tones are the result of this chemical process and the gradual aging of the print. This image is a study in contrasts: the sharp formality of the suits against the softness of the natural setting, life and death. The very act of early photography was time-consuming, demanding stillness and patience – virtues perhaps fitting for a memorial. Beyond its aesthetic qualities, this photograph preserves a moment in social history, a time when the emerging technology of photography began to document public life and private emotion. This use of photography marks the end of an era, where hand-made memorial practices were slowly being replaced by mechanical processes, forever changing our relationship with memory and mourning.