Portret van Eduard Isaac Asser voor de balustrade van de garancinefabriek after 1852

This portrait of Eduard Isaac Asser was made using an early photographic technique. Asser was a lawyer, writer, and pioneer of photography in the Netherlands, as well as being from a prominent Jewish family. His direct gaze and relaxed posture, seated on the balustrade of a garancine factory, speak to his multiple identities as both an intellectual and an entrepreneur. The factory itself would have processed the roots of the madder plant to produce a red dye. Asser’s embrace of photography was more than a professional endeavor. As a member of a rising middle class, Asser saw photography as a medium to explore and document the changing social and industrial landscapes of his time. He moved in circles that saw the potential of the medium to capture likeness. Portraits like this one are not just historical documents but also reflections on the complex interplay of identity, industry, and representation in the 19th century.