Portret van een vrouw in klederdracht, vermoedelijk van Katwijk 1908 - 1912

Willem Bongenaar took this portrait of a woman, likely from Katwijk, with a camera and photographic paper sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. There's something so compelling about the limited palette here. The sepia tones create a sense of distance, almost like a memory fading at the edges. Look at the way the light catches the folds of her headdress. The texture seems soft, almost velvety, yet there's a crispness to the image, a clarity in the details of her face. Bongenaar wasn’t trying to hide the process; the materiality of the photograph is right there on the surface. The slight imperfections, the subtle shifts in tone, all add to the emotional weight of the piece. This portrait reminds me a little of the work of Dutch Masters like Vermeer, particularly in its use of light and shadow to create depth and drama. But while Vermeer's subjects are often bathed in a warm, golden glow, Bongenaar's woman is shrouded in a more subdued, melancholic light. It’s in that ambiguity that the photograph finds its power.