Portret van E. Marlitt, pseudoniem van Eugenie John 1855 - 1870

This photographic portrait of E. Marlitt, the pen name of Eugenie John, was created by the Beitz Brothers, though the specific date remains unknown. Early photography like this was a chemical process as much as anything else. It involved coating a surface with light-sensitive materials, carefully controlling exposure time, and then developing the image through further chemical treatments. In the nineteenth century, this was painstaking and often unpredictable work. Think about the photographer’s labor, carefully preparing their materials, and the sitter's experience, holding a pose for what must have felt like an eternity. The finished product, a small card, would have been relatively precious, a portable keepsake made possible by industrial chemistry. Yet, like so many other images, it ultimately became part of the flood of photographs that have come to define the modern era. Recognizing the labor and processes involved allows us to understand how photography was both a craft and a harbinger of mass production.