Portret van een vrouw met muts 1878 - 1936

This is Pieter Duiker’s photograph, “Portret van een vrouw met muts”. Although undated, we can place this albumen print in the late nineteenth century Netherlands based on Duiker’s life and the photographic technology. The portrait presents the sitter with a cool, formal quality, indicative of the social conventions of its time. The woman’s clothing and the setting suggest a middle-class background, a class that was solidifying its identity through portraiture. Here, photography serves as a tool for constructing and reinforcing social identity. It invites the question of how institutions like photography studios and the conventions of portraiture influenced self-representation and social perception. By consulting archives and historical studies, one can further explore the cultural meanings embedded in this image. Understanding art means acknowledging its historical moment and social context.