Portret van een onbekende oude man aan een tafel 1877 - 1897

Lodewijk Hendrikus Serré, a photographer in Utrecht, made this portrait of an unknown older gentleman using a photographic process, sometime in the late 19th century. The sepia tone of the print gives the image a warmth that softens the stark formality of the man’s pose. In the 19th century, photography was as much craft as it was art. The photographer was deeply involved in the material and chemical processes, from preparing the glass plate to developing the print. Every decision, from the lighting to the sitter’s posture, had to be carefully considered. Serré, in his role as photographer, was a skilled artisan, carefully manipulating his materials to capture the essence of his subject. These photographic portraits, often sold as *cartes de visite*, were a booming industry at the time. As a commercial endeavor, the photographic studio was a place of labor, where skills were honed, and where the democratization of portraiture allowed more and more people to participate in the making of images. Serré’s portrait of this unknown man is not just a record of a face, but a testament to the changing landscape of image-making and the rise of a visual culture.