Familie Piek zittend op een buitentrap 1889 - 1893

This photograph, captured by Johanna Margaretha Piek, presents a family seated on an outdoor staircase, their poses conveying a formality characteristic of the era. Notice the staircase itself. It's a motif resonant through art history. Staircases often appear as transitional spaces, representing movement between states of being, or levels of consciousness. Think of the staircase in Piranesi's engravings, or the dramatic ascents in Renaissance depictions of the Annunciation, or even in cinema. The staircase acts as a powerful symbol of social mobility, spiritual ascension, or psychological transformation. Here, however, the family is static on the steps, poised, hinting at a moment of pause. This family portrait, staged on the staircase, freezes them in time—a frozen moment, embodying a tension between aspiration and the constraints of their present circumstances. The act of posing suggests a self-conscious awareness of their position, both literally on the steps and metaphorically in society. These steps serve as a stage upon which the family performs its identity, capturing a complex interplay of hope, memory, and the quiet drama of familial bonds.