Portret van Wilhelmina Gerarda Hoogendijk met haar zoon Han en een onbekende vrouw in een tuin (vermoedelijk) te Schoonhoven c. 1905 - 1910

Willem Carel van der Kop captured Wilhelmina Gerarda Hoogendijk with her son Han and an unknown woman in a garden, likely in Schoonhoven, using photography. There’s a softness to this image, like it's been dipped in sepia tea, and the composition is a curious dance between formality and intimacy. I wonder what Van der Kop was thinking, framing these figures against a backdrop of foliage. Was he trying to capture a moment of domestic tranquility, or was it something more profound, a meditation on motherhood, identity, and the passage of time? Looking at the outfits, the high collars, and the serious expressions, I can’t help but feel a pang of sympathy for these women, bound by the strictures of their time. But there’s also a quiet strength in their gazes, a sense of resilience that speaks to the enduring power of the human spirit. I see in their faces the echoes of countless other portraits, each one a fragment of a larger conversation about who we are and what we mean to each other.