Portret van een onbekende man before 1900

This is Rudolf Dührkoop's *Portrait of an Unknown Man*. Dührkoop, a key figure in the development of art photography, worked in Hamburg around the turn of the 20th century. His chosen medium, photography, occupies a fascinating place in the history of art, because it is both highly technical and deeply social. Dührkoop did not invent the techniques he used; he was more of a virtuoso, bending the existing methods to his artistic will. In this particular print, he demonstrates the technique of ‘bronze toning.’ The process involves the application of a bronze powder during development, which gives the image a particular warmth and depth of color. The result is a portrait that seems almost painterly in its effect. Dührkoop makes use of the inherent qualities of photography, particularly its capacity to capture detail and texture, and employs this highly-skilled technique to make the subject come alive. It's an example of how photography, often considered distinct from craft, can achieve a similar level of material expressiveness.