Portret van een meisje met sluier 1880 - 1920

This is a carte-de-visite, a calling card photograph, by the artist Pichois. It is a small print on paper, likely albumen, a process popular in the mid-19th century. The faint tonality wasn't achieved with a paintbrush but through chemistry, capturing a fleeting moment in time. The process involves coating paper with albumen from eggs and silver salts, then exposing it to light through a negative. This created a positive image, fixing the sitter's likeness onto the surface. This process democratized portraiture. Before photography, only the wealthy could afford painted portraits, while this brought images into everyday life. It was a mark of social status, and of the modern world, to own and exchange these paper images. It changed the nature of memory, identity, and even celebrity. So, when we look at this, we're not just seeing a pretty picture but also a glimpse into the changing social and material landscape of the 19th century.