Portret van een vrouw met waaier in de hand, staand bij een stoel 1859 - 1866

Adrien Barboni made this small photograph of a woman with a fan at an unknown date. Though the carte-de-visite is a simple photographic print, it opens a window onto the social conventions of the mid-19th century. Consider, for instance, the woman’s dress, and her self-possessed, if not confrontational, gaze. In France, where Barboni worked, the rapidly expanding middle class embraced photography as a way to record and perform their aspirations to gentility. A portrait like this one would have been a powerful signifier of the sitter’s social status, subtly broadcasting her economic position through attire and pose. Historians can use sources such as fashion plates, etiquette manuals, and business records to better understand this image. The meaning of art is never fixed; it shifts and changes based on the social and institutional contexts in which we view it.