Portret van Peter Ernst (II), graaf van Mansfeld 1623

This is Simon van de Passe's portrait of Peter Ernst, Count von Mansfeld. It's an engraving, a printed image made by cutting lines into a metal plate. Here, the elaborate lace collar is particularly striking. It is not merely a fashion statement, it is a potent signifier of wealth, status, and cultural identity. Collars like this appear across Europe in portraits of aristocrats. We can trace the symbolic life of similar ruffs back through history, shifting subtly in form yet always conveying a sense of elevated position and refined taste. Consider too, how portraiture itself evolved from painted effigies of the deceased, intended to preserve their likeness, to celebrations of the individual. The need to commemorate, to freeze a moment in time, speaks to our deepest anxieties about mortality. This portrait serves as a lasting testament to the Count's existence, a bulwark against the inevitable erasure of time. In it, past and present are linked together in a continuous, cyclical dance.