Zes portretten van onbekende mensen en kinderen die vreugde tonen before 1890

This is a page from a book with six portraits of unknown people and children displaying joy, created by an anonymous artist. The composition is strikingly simple: six oval portraits arranged in two neat columns create a grid-like structure on the page. The monochromatic palette focuses our attention on form and expression. Each face, framed by its oval border, becomes a study in human emotion. The arrangement invites us to compare and contrast the nuances of joy. This almost scientific approach is reminiscent of early psychological studies, classifying emotions as observable phenomena. The page becomes a tableau of human affect, each portrait a signifier of joy. Consider how the artist, by stripping away context and color, reduces the subjects to their expressions. This reduction invites us to examine the underlying structures of emotion itself, questioning how we categorize and understand these fleeting moments of human experience.