Borstbeeld van een oude man met kalotje 1630 - 1632

Jan Lievens made this etching of an old man wearing a skullcap sometime in the first half of the 17th century. The image presents an interesting tension between social commentary and artistic innovation. During the Dutch Golden Age, artists were increasingly commissioned by middle-class patrons. These patrons often wanted to see themselves and their values reflected in art. Prints like this, however, offered a more democratic form of art consumption. Lievens's detailed rendering of the man's aged features is striking. The man's clothing and heavy chain suggest he is a person of status, but the inclusion of naturalistic features was new. Was Lievens subtly critiquing the traditional norms of portraiture by focusing on an unidealized image? Was he trying to broaden the scope of who might be considered worthy of representation? To understand this piece better, we can research the print market in the Netherlands at the time and investigate the patronage networks that supported artists like Lievens.