Huis ter Horst met bijgebouwen gezien vanaf de zijkant 1904

Geldolph Adriaan Kessler made this photograph of Huis ter Horst with outbuildings. The image presents a view of landed wealth and privilege, but it also tells us something about the changing role of photography at the time, in the Netherlands. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, photography became more accessible. It started to creep into the domains of painting and drawing, offering a supposedly objective record of the world. Here, we see a country estate rendered in meticulous detail, the grain in the fields contrasting with the solid mass of the main house. What are the politics of such an image? Does it simply celebrate wealth, or is there a more complex relationship between the photographer and his subject? To understand this image better, we might research the history of Huis ter Horst, and the social role of families like the one who owned it. We might also consider the institutional history of photography in the Netherlands, and the way that it was used to document and classify the world.