Portret van een vrouw, vermoedelijk gravin Maria van Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen van Vlaanderen before 1901

Edouard Fabronius made this photographic portrait of a woman, possibly Countess Maria van Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen van Vlaanderen, sometime in the late 19th century. The woman is positioned in profile, her gaze directed just beyond the frame. I wonder what she was thinking, sitting there, so still. Photography back then was a slow process – not like our quick snaps today. You can sense a kind of stillness, a weight, in the image. The detail in her dress is quite something, isn't it? The texture and light create a sense of depth. It reminds me how portraiture, even in photography, is a conversation between artist and sitter, a dance of representation and reality. Fabronius, like any artist, was part of a bigger visual conversation.