Onbekende man aan een water before 1902

W. van Renynghe made this photograph, "Onbekende man aan een water", using a camera and photographic paper, and it's glued into a book. It’s a landscape, with trees acting as vertical markers against the water, which shimmers with light. The tonality here is wonderful, it makes the image glow from within. Look at the bark of the trees: the artist seems to be playing with the textures, giving them definition while still managing to blend them softly into the scene. The whole image feels very organic and process-oriented. I particularly like the area where the reflections in the water meet the foliage. The artist blurs the line between the real and the reflected, creating a kind of painterly abstraction within the photograph. This reminds me of the way Gerhard Richter incorporated photography into his painting practice. Both embrace the beauty of chance and the unpredictable nature of the medium. It's a reminder that art, no matter the form, is always a conversation across time, full of echoes and reinterpretations.