Reproductie naar een portret van Hazenbroek door W.F. Boelsums 1920 - 1985

This is Willem Frederik Boelsums' Reproductie naar een portret van Hazenbroek, made with a photographic process sometime in the late 19th century. The approach here is less about color, more about tonal range and how light and shadow describe form. It's about how the camera translates the world into a range of grays, turning reality into something almost abstract. Look closely and you'll see the surface has a kind of velvety texture. The gradations from light to dark feel seamless, almost like a drawing, which is something you see a lot in early photography. See how the light falls across the subject's face, especially how the mustache is rendered? It's amazing how the smallest details stand out. Each button and braid is defined with such clarity, it’s almost tactile. This piece feels like a reference to earlier portrait traditions but also a step towards something completely new. It reminds me a bit of Nadar and other portraitists of the time, all exploring the possibilities of this new medium while still nodding to the past. Ultimately, this piece encapsulates the tension between representation and abstraction, inviting us to see the world in new and unexpected ways.