Portret van een onbekende vrouw c. 1875 - 1899

This is a portrait of an unknown woman by Jean Baptiste Feilner. It's a photograph, a technology that transformed image-making in the 19th century. The carte-de-visite format, small and easily reproduced, democratized portraiture. This was no longer just for the wealthy elite; it was for a rising middle class eager to participate in modern visual culture. The making of photographs was intertwined with industrial capitalism, with factories mass-producing the necessary chemicals and equipment. This, in turn, created jobs, though often under exploitative conditions. Consider the sitter's dress, carefully tailored, with its sheen suggesting a costly fabric. This speaks to the clothing industry, another engine of industrialization. While she may appear passive, she is actively performing a role, presenting herself through the image. Photography became a tool for self-fashioning, and asserting one’s place in the world. This photograph reminds us that even seemingly straightforward images are embedded in complex networks of materials, labor, and social aspiration.