Portret van een vrouw met een medaillon 1878

George Glanville created this small photographic portrait of a woman with a medallion sometime between 1846 and 1925. The photograph itself is a product of the Industrial Revolution, a chemical process enabled by mass-produced equipment. Consider how this portrait democratized image-making. Before photography, a painted portrait was a luxury, but with innovations in photographic techniques, likenesses became available to a broader segment of society. The carte-de-visite, a small, easily produced, and traded photograph, enabled a culture of image sharing. This simple object speaks volumes about shifting social dynamics. Photography allowed for new modes of representation and self-expression, capturing and circulating images on an unprecedented scale. The rise of photography studios, like Glanville's, transformed portraiture from a bespoke craft to a mass-produced commodity, capturing likenesses and shaping perceptions in the modern age. It blurs the line between art, craft, and industrial production.