Portret van een moeder met twee kinderen c. 1887 - 1919

Curator: I'm immediately drawn in by the wistful stillness of this photo—there's a quiet gravity, isn't there? Editor: Absolutely. This is "Portrait of a Mother with Two Children," made sometime between 1887 and 1919, currently held at the Rijksmuseum. Attributed to the photography studio Koene & Büttinghausen, it’s a gelatin-silver print—a pretty standard medium for portraits at the time. What exactly speaks to you? Curator: It’s the mother's gaze. It’s gentle, sure, but with a layer of… endurance? And those beautiful boys in their white, I just imagine their boisterousness barely contained, their own lives stretching out before them. And here is this monumental, iconic mother. Editor: Well, photography held a fascinating place in the socio-political fabric. The burgeoning middle class demanded affordable portraiture, and studios popped up everywhere to meet that need. What appears as ‘simple’ documentation was often carefully orchestrated—social aspirations, class identity, all subtly encoded in attire and pose. That little boy’s sailor suit, for example, signified specific social status. Curator: Precisely! I feel the performance of it all. The background, that hazy landscape painting—almost laughably romantic. The mother, grounded, a mountain, compared to the artificiality around her. She radiates strength and maybe that quiet sadness that comes from bearing so much. Editor: There’s certainly a tenderness on display, but also this… formality. We tend to project our own ideas of motherhood onto historical images, of course. What's striking to me is how these photos played into constructing an *image* of the family unit – projecting ideals of respectability and stability for public consumption. Consider this not just as representation, but deliberate self-representation. Curator: Yes, absolutely. It's this intersection that’s so poignant. That constructed ideal brushing up against, perhaps inadvertently, the emotional core of a woman navigating her roles. It reminds me, these curated displays are never purely objective, but also little peepholes into souls long gone. Editor: Indeed, what appears conventional also holds deeply personal stories—ones we are compelled to explore further even today. Curator: Well said. It is a beautiful conversation-starter, and hopefully, we just added something special for our listeners.