Portret van twee mannen, waarvan één met hoge hoed in de hand 1864 - 1868

This portrait of two men, one holding a top hat, was made by Gebrüder Grundner using photographic methods popular at the time. The photograph's sepia tones and sharp focus were achieved through a complex chemical process, and the choice of clothing and setting, all speak to the social status of the sitters. Yet these elements also reflect the labor required to produce and maintain these markers of wealth. The very act of posing for a photograph was a performance, a display of affluence and leisure that was enabled by the labor of others. The photograph's material presence—its size, the texture of the paper, and the way it has been mounted—speak to its status as a commodity, an object to be collected and displayed. By attending to the social and economic context in which this photograph was made, we can begin to unpack its complex layers of meaning, moving beyond surface appearances to consider the labor, politics, and consumption that shaped its creation.