Photo Card Queen Wilhelmina State Portrait Foto Ziegler gelatin silver

Photo card showing a state portrait of Queen Wilhelmina, full length, in an embroidered evening gown with sash and grand cross, breast star, tiara, pearl necklace and bracelet, holding a large feather fan. The inscription H.M. de Koningin appears in script in the upper left corner. The photograph was made by Foto Ziegler in The Hague and published by Blankwaardt en Schoonhoven in Rijswijk. The card is a gelatin silver print on photographic paper, recognisable by the photographic tonality and the soft silvery surface. The card is in good condition.

The portrait most likely dates from the late nineteen tens or early nineteen twenties, when Wilhelmina was around forty years old. The combination of tiara, sash and order places the image in the register of state ceremony, made for official occasions and for serial publication as a picture postcard for a wider public. A gelatin silver print is technically an individual photographic print rather than a printed reproduction, which sets this card apart from the mass-printed occasional cards of the same period. Foto Ziegler made other official portraits of the House of Orange in these years, including the engagement photograph of Juliana and Bernhard from 1936.