Groepsportret van Maarten en Henry Pauw van Wieldrecht en drijvers, na afloop van de jacht poserend met geschoten wild 1891

Henry Pauw van Wieldrecht made this photograph of a hunting group, including himself, in the Netherlands at the turn of the 20th century. The picture's meaning comes from the visual codes around class and leisure. Note the contrast between the men in suits and hats versus those in simple caps, defining them as gentlemen versus gamekeepers. The men display their hunting spoils outside a wooden house which conveys a sense of rustic affluence. During this period, photography offered new ways for the middle classes to represent themselves and the things they valued. The Rijksmuseum's photo archive and period journals can tell us more about the rise of photography and how class identity was performed at this time. Understanding this image requires seeing it in the context of Dutch social history and the developing institutions of photography.