Portretten van leden van de Duitse keizerlijke familie, en koningin Victoria before 1885

These portraits of the German Imperial family and Queen Victoria, were produced by Erche & Co., through photography, likely as a commercial venture. This would have involved a complex interplay of labor and technology. Consider the material process: each image is likely a collotype or similar photomechanical print, mass-produced in multiples. It would have required skilled technicians to operate the cameras, develop the negatives, prepare the printing plates, and run the printing presses. The resulting prints, uniformly sized and mounted, speak to the industrialized nature of image production at this time, when photography became a tool to democratize images, so everyone can have an image of the Royal Family. The material and processes used influence the appearance, with their sepia tones and subtle textures. The act of collecting and organizing them in an album transforms these individual portraits into a collective statement about power, lineage, and the visual culture of empire. By looking closely at the materials and means of production, we understand how social structures are literally embedded in the making of images.