Geschilderde kopie naar een schilderij van Nicolaas Pieneman c. 1855

This is a photograph of a painted copy after a painting by Nicolaas Pieneman, made by Eduard Isaac Asser. It’s a small print, made using the light-sensitive chemistry of photography, which democratized image-making in the 19th century. The original painting was likely a grand history painting, celebrating a moment of national significance. But here, through photography, the scene is shrunk down, made portable, and reproducible. The photograph flattens the textures and brushstrokes of the original painting into a hazy monochrome image, which changes the way we perceive the depicted scene. The chemical processes of photography involve a different kind of labor than painting. Instead of the artist's hand directly applying pigment to the canvas, photography relies on scientific knowledge and industrial production of materials. In this way, photography transformed how people experienced art and history, making images more accessible and connecting art to the wider social and economic changes of the time.