Portret van een zittende vrouw en een staand meisje 1857 - 1894

This portrait of a seated woman and a standing girl was made by Pieter Siewers using an early photographic process. The sepia tone and small size are characteristic of albumen prints, a popular form of photography in the mid-19th century. This technique involved coating paper with albumen, or egg white, and then exposing it to light through a negative. The resulting image has a distinctive, slightly faded quality, which speaks to the labor and careful chemistry involved in its creation. Photography in this era was becoming more accessible, but it still required specialized knowledge and equipment. Studios like Siewers' emerged to meet a growing demand from a middle class eager to capture their likenesses and family bonds, thus making photography a new type of family heirloom. The image is not just a record of two individuals, but also an artifact of a specific technological moment, and emerging consumer culture that valued both sentiment and scientific progress.