Portret van Marie en Gertrude Werndly 1877

This is Johann Heinrich Martin Bosse’s “Portret van Marie en Gertrude Werndly”, a photograph with dimensions height 96 mm, width 63 mm. The sepia tone and the carefully arranged composition immediately give this portrait a sense of formality. Note how the twin girls, dressed in identical ruffled dresses, stand rigidly, hand in hand, against a backdrop that mimics a landscape. The background, which appears to be a painted canvas rather than an actual outdoor scene, introduces an element of artificiality. It destabilizes the image, calling into question what is real and what is constructed. The clothing, the backdrop, and the twins' postures reflect a certain bourgeois ideal of representation. Yet, the photograph's flatness—its two-dimensionality—works against the illusion of depth, reminding us that this is a constructed image. Bosse's use of photography captures a moment in time but also conveys the artifice inherent in portraiture. The formal structure emphasizes not just the subjects but also the broader cultural codes that shape how we understand identity and representation.