Portret van jonkheer Hendrik Jan Gevers 1895 - 1910

This small portrait of jonkheer Hendrik Jan Gevers was made by Rumbler and it’s really all about tonality. The way this photograph makes use of the grey scale, from the almost pure white of his collar to the deep darks of his boots, seems to me to be about depth, in terms of layers, and about an understanding of the photographic process. Look at the way the light defines his face, the soft, diffused light that creates a sense of roundness and volume, particularly around his cheeks and brow. It’s like the photographer, Rumbler, is feeling the form. I wonder about the kind of camera that was used, the lens and the way it captures light. It reminds me of some of those early daguerrotypes, where the image seems to emerge slowly, mysteriously, from the surface. Like a drawing, but with light. Artists like Gerhard Richter have thought about the photographic image as a starting point for painting. And in a way, all art is a conversation with what has come before.