Fotoreproductie van het schilderij 'Portret van Feyntje van Steenkiste' door Frans Hals 1893 - 1912

This is Johan Marinus Schalekamp’s photographic reproduction of Frans Hals’ painting of Feyntje van Steenkiste, made sometime in the late 19th century. Looking at this image, I am struck by the ways that light and shadow are used to create form and depth. There's a real sense of texture in the way the fabric drapes and folds, and the way the light catches on the ruff around her neck. Thinking about this photograph as a copy, I wonder how Schalekamp was thinking about the translation of paint to light? The subtle gradations of tone, from the soft, almost luminous highlights to the deep, velvety shadows, are really interesting. Especially when you consider this as a picture *of* a picture, there is something so compelling about how surface and form are handled. It reminds me of the work of someone like Sherrie Levine, who re-photographed famous images to ask questions about originality and authorship. This photograph, like Levine’s photographs, seems to say that art is always in conversation with itself, always building on what came before.