Two portraits of young women in Delft, the Netherlands
Click here to view it larger.
What it is:
Two unused real photo postcards, each measuring slightly less than 3.5 x 5.5 inches.
What I know about it:
The photographer for the one on the right is P. D. Elskamp of Delft, the Netherlands. Based on the images, I’m assuming the photographer on the left is the same. P. D. Elskamp seems to be Peter (or Petrus) Dirk Elskamp, though I’ve seen a couple of references that indicate Peter and Dirk were two different people (brothers?) working together. (The sites are all in Dutch, and online translators are notoriously unreliable.)
Comments:
Here is another example of two different people who obviously went to the same photographer to get their portraits done. (They were sold to me together, among a batch of others from the Netherlands, but I don’t know whether they are related in some way, or if it’s just a coincidence.) The setting is the same, and the pose is the same. Interestingly, though, I looked at these photos multiple times before I recognized the connection. I suppose it’s the way they are framed differently that threw me off at first. Perhaps also because the women’s outfits look so different.
Pics of Then 
Hi Matt. Extraordinary to get two people posed in exactly the same pose (even from the same photographer) and such an odd stiff one at that. Love these two together. Alone each wouldn’t be quite so interesting.
Thanks, Katherine. I almost posted the one on the left by itself. Of the two, it’s the one I prefer, and I think her blouse is unusual. But once I realized they were so similar, I knew I had to post them together.
I agree that the blouse is unusual. It has a peasant or traditional feel to it. I wonder what dutch traditional costume was like?
Yes, the term “peasant blouse” came to mind, with the assumption that she’s not actually a “peasant”.
Hello Matt, the photographer Petrus Dirk Elskamp is my great-grandfather and is one person. These photo’s have been taken at his photostudio in his house at the Vlamingstraat 34, in Delft. I’m very curious how you got these photo’s and if you have more photo’s of him?
Hello! Thank you for visiting my blog, and for commenting. It’s always fun to find people with personal connections to my photos, especially when they are able to provide extra information. I’m sorry I don’t have details about where I bought it. I would have bought it on eBay about fifteen years ago, and after all these years I don’t remember the seller except to say it would have been somebody in the US. It came among a bunch of photos that seem to be mostly from the same region, and I did find another in that group marked Elskamp, so I’ll have to post it soon.