Portret van een onbekende vrouw 1900 - 1914

This small portrait of an unknown woman was captured in Paris by Otto Mertens, and its sepia tones give it an antique charm. The photographer’s studio is right there on the bottom of the print, like a painter’s signature on the canvas. I find myself thinking about the woman in the photograph – who was she? What was a day in her life like? The details in her dress, the button at her throat, the gentle curve of her hair, all speak of a life lived, now faded into history. And what about Mertens, the photographer? Was he striving to capture her likeness perfectly, or was he trying to evoke something deeper, some sense of her inner self? Maybe it was a bit of both, a dance between technical skill and artistic intention.