Portret van een staand meisje 1880

Jean Leplat created this portrait of a standing girl using the 19th-century photographic process of albumen print. In this method, a glass negative is placed on paper coated with albumen from egg whites and silver salts, then exposed to light. The resulting sepia tones and soft focus give the image a distinctive, almost painterly quality. The physical act of coating and sensitizing the paper, then carefully developing the print, required precise control over materials and chemistry. The subtle gradations of tone, from the girl's dress to the shadowed background, speak to the artist's mastery of this process. It's important to remember that this was a relatively new, but increasingly commercialized technique, making photographic portraits available to a growing middle class. This is a far cry from painting, which remained the province of the wealthy. The material and method speak to broader social shifts, bringing images and representation to a wider audience.