Portret van jonge vrouw met vlecht 1873 - 1900

Artist: Ah, this small gem tucked away. We're looking at "Portret van jonge vrouw met vlecht," or "Portrait of a Young Woman with a Braid," created sometime between 1873 and 1900 by Max Büttinghausen. It’s a gelatin-silver print, a beautiful photographic technique. Art Historian: It's immediately striking—that oval frame gives it an almost locket-like intimacy. She has such a composed expression, but there’s something melancholy lingering in her eyes. It is a small format piece so I can see a voyeuristic quality, like seeing the person’s intimate secret. Artist: Melancholy... yes! That’s the perfect word. You know, when I look at photos from this era, I always wonder about the lives of the people in them. She has her hair braided and styled with a dark headband so there is an elegant austerity about the piece. The choice to use monochrome also shows its dedication to timeless portraiture and immortalisation through images. Art Historian: Braids themselves are powerful symbols. They signify innocence, youth, but also control and order, so those might echo throughout. And that pendant or brooch she’s wearing. Its circularity speaks to wholeness, maybe protection, and might suggest something of her social standing at the time. Also note her buttoned and tightly fitting garments. They add to the effect of feeling almost confined but at peace with confinement, just like a small image locked into the confines of the whole book Artist: You've given me such a good reminder about clothing in the historical photos! And this photographic method gives a hauntingly dreamlike presence. She looks serene yet subtly defiant—maybe she didn't quite want to sit for the portrait? The photographic choices almost suggest a life unfolding but remaining constrained, the dreamlike atmosphere highlighting a surreal unfulfillment. Art Historian: Precisely. This young woman holds onto untold memories; so the question here becomes if we, the watchers, should disturb those dormant sentiments. It brings such an intense and concentrated character to this image that echoes over a century later! Artist: It’s quite powerful to contemplate her like that, in a preserved instant in time. Thank you, she now remains, in my own mind, like one of those half-remembered dreams with the key to something crucial you just can't put your finger on!