Portret van Maria Favart before 1884

This is a portrait of Maria Favart, made by Charles Reutlinger sometime in the mid-19th century. It's a photograph, which was then a relatively new medium, a chemical process made accessible through industrial production. Consider the material reality of this small print. It’s an albumen print, made by coating paper with a layer of egg white, then sensitized with silver nitrate, and exposed to light through a negative. This process created a sharp, detailed image with a distinctive sepia tone. The final result is a direct product of chemical reactions, industrial manufacturing of materials, and of course the artist's hand. Photography democratized portraiture. Rather than commissioning a painted portrait only available to the wealthy, the burgeoning middle class could now participate in visual culture. Reutlinger’s studio, located on a fashionable boulevard in Paris, catered to this market. This portrait, though small in scale, speaks volumes about the changing landscape of art, labor, and consumption in the 19th century. It bridges the gap between fine art and a commodity, and encourages us to consider the social and economic forces that shaped its creation.