Portret van een meisje met halsketting 1876

Curator: It has such a delicate feel, almost like holding a forgotten daydream. I think what captivates me most is the girl’s steady gaze and the creamy tonality, which give this a touch of the otherworldly. Editor: Indeed. This is "Portrait of a Girl with Necklace," an albumen print crafted around 1876 by A.H. Burdorf, a beautiful example of 19th-century portraiture blending with pictorialism, a movement keen on infusing photography with painterly aesthetics. That medallion is striking, it's so large! A statement piece. Curator: Exactly. Jewelry often acts as a signifier, and in this case, I'm seeing an almost theatrical application, especially paired with that ribbon choker. Maybe a status symbol, maybe mourning jewelry, maybe a little rebellion—it depends what family she comes from, I imagine. She also isn't trying to charm us with the coy coquetry we see in many portraits. She's direct. Editor: What’s so compelling about these kinds of albumen prints is that you’re not just seeing a portrait, but also engaging with a specific technological moment. That dreamy focus that comes from manipulating light—almost trying to lift the material to the spiritual—is something special. What might have this moment felt like to be captured back then? The idea of fixing your likeness forever... Curator: Right. But at the same time, by staging these portraits, aren't we fixing a fiction? Everyone at the time knew this wasn't really a "snapshot". This "truthful image" relies on just as much symbolism, ritual and artifice as painting always did. The jewelry, the expression, even the printing technique contributes to creating this impression of soft sentimentality... which then speaks volumes. Editor: And speaks in silence...a silence of the 19th century whispering across time. I'll walk away remembering her eyes most. Curator: Me too. What secrets do you hold, young woman? An unknowable era lingers within her steady look.