Portret van een staande vrouw 1860 - 1870

Curator: This dignified "Portret van een staande vrouw," captured between 1860 and 1870, is a gelatin-silver print attributed to the studio of Baldi & Würthle. What’s your first impression? Editor: Oh, she exudes such restrained power, doesn't she? The severe pose, that huge dress... almost a fortress. I immediately want to know her story. Curator: Exactly! Those early photographs feel like little time capsules. The very act of posing probably felt so deliberate then. You can see how she uses the garment like a social armour, maybe trying to look older or richer than she actually was. What are the semiotic signals that reveal the nature of who this lady wanted to appear to the World? Editor: Those sleeves are something, aren't they? Puffed almost to the point of cartoonishness. They scream Victorian ideal, amplified and somewhat absurd. And the carpet is a signifier of something also, but I am unsure. Something to do with the house pride and cleanliness of her? A well ordered and kept house for a lady to preside? Curator: I agree, although a bit melancholic, like the faded colours represent the passage of time, and she stands still waiting for history to unfold... Editor: That somber mood really clings to it, doesn't it? I do wonder if it also signals a hidden defiance; there's something almost rebellious in the starkness of the portrait against the flowery expectations of that era. It would have taken such work to keep still for that length of time, a conscious and sustained dedication. Curator: A powerful snapshot from a time when self-expression was still so carefully mediated. Let´s just appreciate the magic of seeing into her World, so long ago. Editor: Absolutely. A portal into her carefully crafted reality.