Drie mensen tijdens een picknick in een bergachtige omgeving c. 1886 - 1896

Henry Pauw van Wieldrecht created this photograph, "Three People on a Picnic in a Mountainous Area", date unknown. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the rise of leisure and tourism allowed for a growing interest in landscape photography. The photograph depicts a man standing next to a donkey carrying two women. The figures are arranged for a picnic in a rugged, mountainous landscape. This staged presentation, where the figures appear secondary to the landscape, was a common trope in early landscape photography. Yet, there is an emotional aspect of the photograph, it hints at a narrative of adventure and exploration. It is hard not to consider the gendered and classed dimensions of this scene: the women riding the donkey, the man standing in attendance. The image invites us to reflect on the historical context of travel and leisure, and the ways in which photography could both capture and construct particular visions of identity and place.