Portret van een meisje, staand bij een stoel 1860 - 1890

This photograph captures a young girl standing beside a chair, immortalized by Samuel A. Cohner with the new medium of photography. Notice the chair she leans on, more than a mere prop. Chairs symbolize authority, dignity, and even divine presence, tracing back to ancient thrones of kings and gods. In many portraits across history, the seated or standing figure next to a chair signified status, power, and formality. Consider its echoes in later art, such as Van Gogh’s chair paintings. Here, the chair, now a marker of absence, evokes a sense of loss, a different emotion than Cohner may have intended. The innocent face of the girl, combined with the austere backdrop, invokes a psychological tension, engaging viewers on a deep, subconscious level. This cyclical progression in meaning shows how symbols resurface, evolve, and acquire new resonance in different historical contexts.