Portret van een vrouw Possibly 1913 - 1926

This is a portrait of a woman by Jan Gottfried Stütner, we don't know exactly when it was made. The gray scale gives the image a timeless quality, like a memory fading at the edges. You can almost feel the stillness of the studio, the soft light, and the subject holding her pose. I imagine Stütner carefully composing the shot, thinking about how to capture her essence. There is an interesting conversation happening between the person, the flowers, and the photographer. Is she self-conscious? Is she confident? Does she feel honored to be the subject? You can see how this work relates to other painters who were exploring ideas about portraiture. Painters inspire each other's creativity, and the exchange of ideas across time can be very fertile. Painting is a kind of expression that allows ambiguity. There is no fixed meaning; it is a starting point for discussion.