Groepsportret van drie militairen c. 1900 - 1910

This photographic print by Louis Schmidlin, shows three uniformed military men and was produced in his studio in Tilburg, Netherlands. Photographic studios like Schmidlin’s exploded in popularity in the late 19th century as photography became more accessible to the middle classes. But it was also a tool for the state. Photographs offered a new way to document citizens and created a visual rhetoric of nationhood. Group portraits like this imply a shared national identity, shaped around the institution of the military. Here the image creates meaning through visual codes: the men’s uniforms and their poses, and the studio backdrop, evoke a sense of order, hierarchy, and tradition. Art historians seek to understand the social conditions that shape artistic production. By studying photographs like this, alongside other archival materials, such as military records and census data, we can shed light on how the public role of art, as well as that of the military, was forged in this period.