Portret van een onbekende man 1894 - 1914

This portrait of an unknown man by J. Weston and Son is a window into another time, captured with a camera and developed through some darkroom alchemy. The sepia tones are muted, dreamlike, like a memory fading at the edges. Look at the soft blurring of the background, which focuses attention on the sitter. His suit is nicely rendered, but it is the face that holds the most detail. The photographic process here is very different to painting but I can see that, in a way, the photographer is painting with light. Building up layers of tone, carefully modelling the forms to create an image that looks real, but is also idealized. It reminds me of the portraits by early photographers like Nadar, who were trying to capture not just a likeness but also the essence of a person. Though the man is unknown to us, the photograph keeps his memory alive. Like a conversation across time.