Portret van Aletta Cornelia Anna Voombergh (1828-1913), de moeder van de fotograaf Possibly 1909

This is a photograph of Aletta Cornelia Anna Voombergh, the photographer’s mother, made by Henry Pauw van Wieldrecht in 1909. I can almost smell the garden on an August day. I wonder if she was difficult to photograph, and if he tried to soften her stern expression? I can imagine him placing her just there, in the garden, with the sunlight filtering through the trees. There is a vase of flowers on the table next to her, and I wonder if he picked them himself? I think of my own mother, and of the other painters who have photographed their mothers; Alice Neel and her portraits of her mother come to mind. It’s as though we are always in conversation with them, and with each other, across time. Each artwork offering a different way of seeing, thinking, and feeling the world.