Portret van Albert van Geuns c. 1863 - 1870

Wegner & Mottu created this portrait of Albert van Geuns using photography, a relatively new medium at the time. Photography in this era was still defining its place in the art world, often navigating between documentation and artistic expression. Consider the sitter’s pose and attire, the fashions and expectations of bourgeois masculinity in the 19th century. His posture exudes authority, but it also seems softened, perhaps a touch vulnerable. What does it mean to have one’s portrait taken, to be recorded by this new technology? The photograph flattens three-dimensional space, reducing a person to an image. It invites us to contemplate themes of representation, identity, and the gaze. This portrait exists not just as an image of a man, but as an artifact of a specific time, laden with cultural meaning and the quiet echoes of personal experience.