Portret van een jonge vrouw 1886 - 1895

This is a photographic portrait of a young woman made by Max Büttinghausen, sometime in the late nineteenth century. Photography, since its invention, has been used as a tool for commemoration, documentation, and also the construction of social identities. In the Netherlands at this time, the photographic portrait was becoming increasingly common among the middle classes. Here, the woman's clothing and accessories, like the beaded choker, subtly signal her social standing, while the formal framing and composition lend an air of respectability. The popularity of these kinds of images was closely tied to the growth of a commercial photographic industry. To understand this photograph more fully, we might research the practices of portrait studios in the Netherlands, or examine the ways that photography was displayed and collected in family albums. These practices can show us the values and aspirations of the people who commissioned and consumed these images.