Portret van Emma, koningin-regentes der Nederlanden, en Juliana, koningin der Nederlanden 1920

This small photograph at the Rijksmuseum is by Herman Deutmann, and depicts Queen Emma and Queen Juliana of the Netherlands. Imagine what it must have been like to pose for such a portrait: the clothing, the hats, the formal posture. The little queen reads, but you get the sense she is performing for the photographer, for history. I imagine Deutmann, as a painter, empathized with his subjects, and he wanted to capture their regality. The photograph is soft and a little blurry, perhaps in an attempt to convey a sense of dreaminess. The two figures are separated, one looking off into the distance, the other absorbed in her book. I like that distance between them – perhaps it's a metaphor for the distance between royalty and the rest of us. It makes me think of other artists like Manet, who painted portraits with a similar sense of detachment. Artists respond to one another and copy one another. As artists, we are all in dialogue. And what are they saying? That's for you to decide!