Verlovingsportret van koningin Wilhelmina en prins Hendrik after 1900

This is an engagement portrait of Queen Wilhelmina and Prince Hendrik by Wegner and Mottu in Amsterdam. Photography was still a relatively new medium at the time, its social impact profound. The photograph itself results from a chemical process – light captured on a treated surface. But consider, too, all that goes into the scene: the tailoring of the royal garments, and the social expectations around royal presentation. The photograph relies on the subject’s cooperation, yet the final image is the result of a great many hands. And let’s not forget the contribution of the photographic studio itself, with its standardized backdrops and poses. The photographer would have instructed them on how to stand, and the angle of their faces to the camera. While seemingly capturing a moment in time, such photographs were carefully constructed. It reminds us that even seemingly transparent mediums like photography have their own kinds of craft, production, and inherent artifice.