Portret van een onbekende Groningse student in maskeradekostuum 1886 - 1897

Berend Mulder's small photograph depicts an unknown student in Groningen, the Netherlands, dressed in masquerade costume. The student sits proudly with his sword in hand. The accoutrements of his character are on display behind him. Photographs like this one were often made as keepsakes, or even to promote the photographer’s studio. They acted as a form of social currency among the middle classes. In this case, the student signals his own participation in Dutch cultural life. Carnival celebrations, a tradition in some regions, provided an opportunity to playfully invert the existing social hierarchy. Here, the photograph memorializes the student’s participation in what he and others perceived as a liberating ritual. To understand this image better, we can investigate the history of carnival celebrations in the Netherlands, the history of student life in Groningen, and the history of photography as a bourgeois social practice. Only through a careful study of the relevant social and institutional contexts can we begin to understand what this photograph might have meant to the student and to the photographer who made it.