Vrouw loopt een trap af aan de Rivièra before 1896

This photograph, taken at an unknown date by Eckenmeyer, depicts a woman descending a staircase towards the Riviera. The staircase itself is a potent symbol, laden with cultural and historical weight. Staircases appear throughout art history, often as allegories for spiritual or physical ascent and descent. Consider the classical image of the Ladder of Divine Ascent, where steps represent stages of enlightenment, or the staircases featured in Piranesi's architectural fantasies. The act of descending, as seen here, can represent a transition from one state to another—a symbolic journey into the unknown. The woman's hesitant posture, and the angle of her descent, conveys a sense of anticipation and a slight trepidation. These psychological states echo in countless artworks throughout history, where figures stand on thresholds. Like the figures in a Renaissance painting or a classical myth, she invites us to reflect on our own journeys, the ascents and descents that shape our understanding of the world. It is a continuous cycle, reappearing across epochs, with its essence perpetually renewed.