Portret van een onbekende vrouw before 1894

This is a portrait of an unknown woman by Mary Bartlett. We don’t know exactly when it was made, but we can tell a lot from the materials used. The image is presented on the cover of a book, likely made of paperboard, covered with cloth and printed with ink. This would have been a relatively inexpensive means of production, certainly less costly than a hand-painted miniature. The cover features a printed photograph of the sitter, surrounded by a gold-colored frame. Consider the labor involved in the production of this book. From the manufacture of the paper and cloth to the printing of the image and text, many hands would have been involved. This raises questions about the economics of portraiture at the time, and the democratization of images. The book format suggests a mass audience, inviting us to think about who this woman was and why her portrait was deemed worthy of wider distribution. Paying attention to materials, making, and context allows us to understand the social and cultural significance of an artwork.