Portret van Theodorus Beekhuis 1859 - 1870

Eduard Fuchs made this photographic portrait of Theodorus Beekhuis sometime in the 19th century. In that era, photography studios popped up everywhere in Europe as the relatively new technology became increasingly accessible. Portraits like these offered a new way to record likeness, challenging the traditional dominance of painting among the upper classes. The rise of photography democratized portraiture, making it available to a broader segment of society, like the emerging middle class, eager to participate in the visual culture. What kind of person was Beekhuis? The picture gives us some clues, but we will need more information to build up a complete social picture. Archival records, genealogical databases, and local histories could help us understand the sitter’s place in the world. As historians, we constantly contextualize art within its time, and we use artworks to reveal something of the lives of the people who made and consumed it.