Hand-coloured photo postcard elegant lady - sent Antwerp 5 August 1914

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Hand-coloured photographic postcard depicting the portrait of a young woman dressed in a fur coat and a wide-brimmed hat with ostrich feathers, rendered in pastel tones — lilac, turquoise and green — on a photographic base. The card is published under number GC9 2057/2 and dates stylistically from the Edwardian period, ca. 1905-1914. The reverse bears a Belgian 1 centime stamp from the coat of arms series and the postmark Anvers (Sud), 5 août 1914. The card was sent from Van Drierststraat 95 in Antwerp to Mejuffer J. Lommen, Susterierij in Roermond, Limburg.

The date of sending — 5 August 1914 — gives this seemingly carefree portrait an unexpected historical weight. The day before, the German army had invaded Belgium, and on that same day Britain declared war on Germany. Antwerp would in the weeks that followed become the last line of defence of the Belgian army. That someone sent an elegant portrait card on that day to a religious community in Dutch Limburg makes this object a quiet witness to the moment the Belle Époque came to an end.