Portrait of Uslar Gleichen 

Carl Hoff rendered this pencil drawing, Portrait of Uslar Gleichen, sometime in the 19th century. Hoff, born in 1807, lived through a period of immense social and political change across Europe. The drawing presents a profile of a man wearing a high top hat and formal attire, signifying status and belonging to the upper echelons of society. In his gaze, one senses the weight of responsibility, or perhaps the detachment afforded by privilege. Hoff himself navigated the societal norms of his time, and his artistic choices reflect a negotiation between personal expression and the expectations of his patrons. This work prompts us to consider the emotional lives of those often immortalized in portraiture and invites reflections on power, identity, and the silent stories etched within faces.