Portret van een onbekende vrouw c. 1890 - 1930

This is a portrait of an unknown woman, made by Henri Bickhoff, but when… that's a mystery! What strikes me is how the artist chose to capture this woman. The sepia tones give the image a timeless quality, like an old memory, fading a little at the edges. You can almost feel the texture of the paper, aged, a little rough, like the skin of an orange. The details are amazing, like the way the light catches in her hair. If you look closely, you can see the subtle shadows under her eyes, telling stories of late nights or early mornings. It reminds me of the photographs of Julia Margaret Cameron, who also sought to capture something deeper than just a likeness. In the end, this portrait feels like a conversation, a quiet exchange between the photographer, the subject, and us, the viewers, across time.