Portret van een vrouw, zittend 1850 - 1872

Hendrik Hermanus Roelse made this portrait of a seated woman in the Netherlands, likely sometime in the 1860s, using the then-new medium of photography. Though modest in scale, it offers a glimpse into the visual culture of the Dutch middle class during a period of significant social and economic change. Note the sitter’s elaborate dress, a signifier of status and wealth. This image would have been made during a time of growing urbanisation when there were new codes of conduct for bourgeois citizens that determined one's social standing. Photography studios, rapidly expanding in cities like Amsterdam, became key sites for the construction and display of social identity. To understand this work more fully, we might consult city directories, fashion plates, and demographic studies. These resources can reveal how individuals navigated the evolving social landscape of the time. The meaning of art is always contingent on its social and institutional context.