Portret van een jongen met hoed in de hand, staand bij een stoel 1857 - 1898

P. Siewers & Zoon created this small photograph of a boy, likely in the Netherlands, sometime in the late 19th century. This portrait is part of an album, and the dimensions suggest it was made as a carte-de-visite. The formality of the setting, with its painted backdrop and ornate chair, speaks to the rising middle class's aspirations for status and respectability. Photography studios emerged as important social institutions, democratizing portraiture and allowing families to document their lives. The boy's somewhat stiff pose and the studio props reflect the conventions of the time, but these elements also speak to a desire to participate in a broader visual culture. To fully understand this image, one would need to research the history of photography in the Netherlands. Understanding the social and economic conditions that fostered the growth of photographic studios will help us understand the wider institutional context that gave rise to images such as this.