Portret van een man, mogelijk in erekostuum van een orde vrijmetselaars 1880 - 1940

This portrait of a man, possibly in masonic dress, was created by Thomas H. Bell, but we don’t know when. It's a small image with added floral decoration. It's got that old photo feel, you know? Like it was pulled from someone's attic. The sepia tones of the central image, framed by those hand-painted flowers, feel both precious and a little spooky. I keep thinking about why the artist chose to surround the photo with those flowers. Are they symbolic? Or are they just pretty? I like the tension between the crisp lines of the photographic portrait, and the soft, dreamy quality of the painted flowers. It reminds me that art is all about process, about layering different ways of seeing and making. The bottom left corner of the floral decoration is interesting. There is an intensity of colour that I keep returning to, where the pinks and reds meet the leafy greens. You can think of someone like Florine Stettheimer. Her portraits also play with this combination of formal representation and personal expression. They both suggest that meaning is never fixed, but always in process.