Portret van Willem III, koning der Nederlanden before 1865

This portrait of Willem III, King of the Netherlands, was created by Ghémar Frères. It’s a photographic print, an albumen print to be exact. The albumen process, named for the egg white used to bind the light-sensitive chemicals to the paper, was a key technology in the 19th century. What I find compelling here is the alchemy of the darkroom; the image emerges through a careful arrangement of chemistry and light, a collaboration between human skill and material properties. The tone of the print, that warm sepia, is directly related to the particular way the silver salts interact with the albumen. Consider the labor involved: preparing the paper, taking the portrait, developing the print. Photography democratized portraiture, making it available to a wider segment of society. This print, originally bound in an album, speaks to that shift in access. It’s a reminder that even seemingly straightforward images are deeply rooted in material processes and social context.