Schoorsteenboezem van Nieuwe Rijn 10 te Leiden 1911

This photograph of a chimney breast in Leiden, was taken in January 1911. The sepia tone gives it a ghostly quality, like a memory fading at the edges. What strikes me is the contrast between the ornate plasterwork and the rough, unfinished state of the fireplace. The floral details seem to cascade down the wall, frozen mid-bloom. But below, the raw materials are exposed, the bones of the structure laid bare. It makes me think about the layers of construction, the hidden work that goes into creating beauty. Look at the detail in the plaster, the way the light catches the curves and crevices, each one built up with tiny gestures. I see echoes of 18th-century French interiors, but there's also something unsettling about its emptiness, a sense of absence. Think about Bernd and Hilla Becher and their photographic typologies. Monumentenzorg, the anonymous photographer here, invites us to consider how documentation shapes our perception, turning the everyday into something worthy of preservation and contemplation.