Portret van een zittend kind 1861 - 1887

This is a photograph by Albert Greiner, titled 'Portret van een zittend kind', or 'Portrait of a Sitting Child'. Photographs like this one were often included in family albums. It’s a salted paper print, a process that involves coating paper with a silver nitrate solution, exposing it to light, and then fixing the image. This technique was popular in the mid-19th century, offering a relatively inexpensive way to capture and share images. The soft, warm tones are characteristic of salted paper prints, and the process would have been quite labor-intensive, requiring careful attention to chemical mixtures and exposure times. The final product, however, made the sitter, and those close to them, feel that the work was well worth the effort. Considering the materials and processes gives us insight into how photography democratized portraiture, allowing a broader segment of society to participate in image-making and self-representation.