Portret van een jongen, staand bij een stoel 1889 - 1925

This small portrait by Josephus Hendrikus Petrus Coppens captures a young boy in a moment of formal stillness. It’s as though time itself is holding its breath. The sepia tones give the image a warm yet melancholic feel, like an old memory softened by age. I can imagine Coppens carefully composing this shot, thinking about how to capture the boy’s essence in such a small frame. Maybe he was thinking about the fleeting nature of childhood, or the way images can freeze a moment forever. Look how the boy’s ruffled collar and serious gaze create a sense of innocence and vulnerability. The chair beside him acts as a prop, something for him to hold onto, suggesting the threshold between play and posed formality. It reminds me of other portraits from that era, where the subjects seem caught between worlds, suspended in a moment of transition. Artists are always in conversation with one another across time, riffing off ideas, constantly reinventing ways of seeing. Ultimately this photograph invites us to reflect on how we capture and remember the people we love.