Mevrouw M. Lobry van Troostenburg de Bruyn-Simon Thomas poserend bij een boom samen met meisjes waaronder een dochter Possibly 1911 - 1916

Curator: What a striking image. Here we have a photograph entitled "Mevrouw M. Lobry van Troostenburg de Bruyn-Simon Thomas poserend bij een boom samen met meisjes waaronder een dochter," dating back to the period between 1911 and 1916. Editor: It's beautiful in its stillness. Melancholy almost. They're like figures in a dream, especially because their faces blend into the background, and seem devoid of joy. Curator: Naturalism is certainly at play here. The landscape feels integral, doesn't it? It's not just a backdrop. I see how the verticals of the fence are reflected in the way they hold their poses, so straight and unnatural against the gentle tree. Editor: I see the shapes but I’m immediately drawn to the narrative potential, to their connection, and who they are to each other in the hierarchy and frame of mind of early 20th century motherhood. The children positioned so playfully above their mother’s poised earth-bound state is telling. Are they longing to leave, for their own skyward-reaching possibilities? I feel an echo of Virginia Woolf here... Curator: Interesting how you pick up on those vertical visual cues and feelings. Technically speaking, the composition draws your eye upwards using the shapes to pull the portrait towards the tree branches and eventually back towards the figures clustered at the trunk and branches, bringing cohesion to the composition Editor: It’s amazing that a seemingly straightforward family portrait holds such depths, those contrasts between freedom and convention. That tension almost makes it… painful. A reminder that beauty can hold complexities that move us, unsettle us, and invite questions. Curator: Indeed. It's in the detail—or the implication of it. How the muted palette and focus on form work to evoke emotion. Editor: Well, after seeing it anew from your angle, I notice that the tension is an exciting game as well, a game which allows an enduring and intimate view of maternal affection, a fleeting impression caught on film.