Gezicht op het Rijnlandshuis te Leiden 1882 - 1914

Hendrik Jonker made this albumen print, showing the Rijnlandshuis in Leiden. The albumen process, popular in the 19th century, involved coating paper with egg white and silver nitrate. The result is a print with fine detail and a slightly glossy surface. This process itself is labor-intensive, demanding a high level of technical skill and chemical knowledge. It was a craft deeply embedded in the rise of photography as both an art and a science. The sepia tones are characteristic, emerging from the chemical reactions during development. Looking at the image, we see the sharp architectural details of the building, juxtaposed with the soft, almost dreamlike quality given by the albumen print. Jonker's choice of this medium underscores photography's early relationship with craft, at a time when the medium was still finding its place among more established art forms. The very act of creating an albumen print was an assertion of photography as a skilled practice, not just a mechanical reproduction. It invites us to consider the immense labor and material knowledge behind even seemingly simple images.