Portret van Johann Heinrich von Heucher 1729 - 1733

This is Martin Bernigeroth’s rendering of Johann Heinrich von Heucher made using engraving. The sweeping wig that adorns the sitter’s head, a symbol of status and intellect during the 18th century, is the primary focus. Consider how such elaborate hairstyles, powdered to an almost ghostly white, appear throughout the courts of Europe. We see echoes of this exaggerated form in the towering hairstyles of Marie Antoinette. What began as a signifier of power and sophistication, became, in another time, a symbol of decadence. The wig, therefore, is not merely a fashion statement. It represents the cyclical nature of symbols, burdened with the weight of history, transforming and acquiring new meanings as they traverse across time.