Portret van Sigmund Feyerabend 1549 - 1584

Editor: So, here we have what's called "Portret van Sigmund Feyerabend," an engraving, we think, from somewhere between 1549 and 1584. The detail is really striking for something made using intaglio. There's something sort of melancholy about the portrait... a weighty seriousness. What captures your eye about this work? Curator: Oh, you're spot on! It has that air of weighty contemplation. I see a master class in detail and controlled line work— a dance of light and shadow that carves out a man who seems acutely aware of the world's stage. The engraver captured the sitter, Sigmund Feyerabend, in that era straddling Renaissance splendor and the shadow of things to come. A bit of a premonition perhaps, in that fur collar. Editor: Premonition, how so? Curator: Well, the clothing itself speaks of status, sure, but to me, there’s a fragility there. The delicate fur, the careful rendering of the man’s face… it whispers of mortality. Do you notice how tightly his hands are clasped? It could signify control, but maybe it's a holding on, wouldn't you say? The angels too - the picture is giving an ornate window, framing an existence caught between earthly display and something else… what do make of that inscription wrapped around him like a halo? Editor: That's interesting! It's an amazing observation. Now I look at the whole portrait in a completely different light. I was fixated on the lines, but your emphasis makes me consider it less as an aesthetic achievement, and more as, maybe, an artifact? Curator: Precisely! These portraits are little time capsules, aren't they? Every detail considered. It encourages us to peer into not just a person's face, but the very fabric of their era. Always a delicious treat!