Portret van tsaar Nicolaas II van Rusland 1905 - 1906

This small portrait of Tsar Nicholas II is an anonymous work on paper currently residing at the Rijksmuseum. Looking at the image I try to imagine what it might have been like to be the artist creating this portrait, and what Nicholas might have been thinking! The artist and the subject, in this case, might have been trapped in a power dynamic. On the one hand, portraiture can be an act of reverence. But, on the other, a portrait is a powerful means of challenging and queering a person's reputation. It is interesting to think of the artist's hand moving carefully over the page; each stroke of the pen or brush loaded with intention and meaning. You can almost feel the weight of history and expectation bearing down on both the artist and the sitter. When we look at artworks, we too engage in this timeless dance of interpretation and reflection.