Portret van een vrouw en drie kleuters in een tuin, waarschijnlijk de tweeling Ad (achter) en Johanna (rechts), Han (links) van der Kop en hun moeder W.G. Hoogendijk after 1903

Willem Carel van der Kop made this photographic print of a woman and three children. It’s a small picture, only 73 by 98 millimetres, making it feel rather intimate, like a locket. I imagine Van der Kop carefully setting up his camera to get a picture of this family together, probably in their garden. The photo is quite sepia-toned, giving it a soft, dreamy feeling. You can almost feel the texture of the fur hats and the fluffy shawl the mother wears. The children’s faces are so clear; they look right at you, each with a different little expression. Thinking about Van der Kop, I wonder what he was trying to capture. Was it just a simple family portrait, or was he aiming for something more – a moment of connection, a sense of place? Maybe he wanted to freeze this particular moment in time and preserve it. Painters and photographers, we are all in conversation, constantly borrowing and building on each other’s ideas. It’s like we’re all part of one big, ongoing art party, trading stories and techniques across the years.