Portret van een onbekende vrouw die breit before 1867

This is a mounted albumen print of an unknown woman knitting, made by Ghémar Frères. The image suggests several things about the sitter, but as an historian, I'm most interested in what it tells us about photography, class and representation in 19th century Europe. The lack of identifying information is itself revealing. This was likely a commercial transaction, in which the sitter paid to have her portrait taken. But the photographers chose not to record her name, suggesting perhaps that she was not part of their social circle. Knitting was an activity associated with the domestic sphere, but also with the working classes who knitted to sell. Is this a self-consciously conservative image of domesticity or is it trying to represent the industriousness of the working classes? The resources of social history, such as census records, trade directories, and archives, are essential to give a fuller picture and understand the social context of this image. In doing so, we realize that the meaning of an artwork is contingent on its social and institutional context.