Groepsportret van vijf onbekende jongens c. 1880 - 1900

This photograph of five unidentified boys was taken in Amsterdam by Wegner & Mottu, though we don’t know exactly when. The image is a silver gelatin print, a process that revolutionized photography because it allowed for sharper detail and easier reproduction. These prints were created by coating paper with light-sensitive silver halide crystals, then exposing it to light through a negative. The resulting image was then developed and fixed. Silver gelatin prints were used widely in commercial and artistic photography. Here, the studio setting—the carefully arranged boys, the furniture, the backdrop—all contribute to the image’s formal composition. But it is the silver gelatin printing process that allows us to see such clarity in the details of their clothing and expressions. This technology democratized image-making, bringing photographic portraits to a wider audience. By focusing on the materials and processes of photography, we gain a deeper understanding of how images like this one captured and shaped social identities.