Portræt af statsmanden A.P. Bernstorff 1795 - 1798

Jens Juel rendered this portrait of statesman A. P. Bernstorff in a drawing. The profile view, favored in Neoclassical portraiture, flattens the figure, yet brings the image into sharp focus. Bernstorff appears against a neutral background. His powdered wig and high collar mark him as a man of status in late eighteenth-century Denmark. But this image is more than a record of aristocratic fashion. It is a social document. The Danish government appointed Juel as court painter in 1780. As such, the artist occupied a formal position within the cultural bureaucracy of the Danish state, and produced images that reinforced the political status quo. Further research into official records might clarify the function of this portrait. Was it a study for a larger painting, or a work of art in its own right? What was its intended audience? Answering these questions will allow a clearer understanding of the political role of art.