Studioportret van een man met snor en een vlinderdas c. 1863 - 1866

This studio portrait of a man with a moustache and bowtie was created by the Abdullah Frères. The Abdullah Frères were a group of Ottoman Armenian photographers, and as their business grew during the mid-19th century, they became the official photographers of the Ottoman court. They were important disseminators of images of the Middle East and Near East to European audiences. The proliferation of images via photography changed the way people perceived the world. Photography democratized portraiture, and the rise of photo studios meant that the middle classes now had access to the same kinds of visual representation previously enjoyed only by the aristocracy. To fully understand the portrait, we might consider researching the photographic techniques used at the time or investigating the influence of the Ottoman court on artistic production. The meaning of art changes according to its social and institutional context.