Medaille met portret van Claude François Lallemand after 1835

Curator: Ah, here we have "Medaille met portret van Claude François Lallemand," an engraving by Achille Collas made sometime after 1835. Quite an elegant rendering. Editor: My initial thought? Austerity. Stripped back. Look at that profile; it's severe yet, somehow, soft. The subtle variations in tone bring him to life despite the almost brutal simplicity. Curator: Well, as an engraving, its creation involves a fascinating, highly skilled labor process of cutting lines into a metal plate. Each line precisely placed to control light and shadow. Consider the socio-economic context: the rise of printmaking enabling broader dissemination of portraits, and consequently, ideas and status. Editor: That's all true, but there’s a ghostliness to it, too. The subject, Lallemand, seems almost caught between worlds – as if we're peering at him from a distant memory, etched not just in metal, but in time itself. I love the feeling it evokes. Curator: Right, and beyond sentimentality, consider Collas' choice to replicate what looks like a medal. Why a medal? What function does that form provide to how the subject, and thus his socio-political value, is constructed through reproductive print technologies and circulated throughout different publics? It encourages the viewer to handle it, which one obviously cannot, thus highlighting the paradoxical qualities of a printed artwork like this. Editor: The dedication almost feels clinical. It invites you to look closely. Those curls feel almost sculpted rather than drawn. Curator: Indeed. Academic art emphasized precision and realism. Printmaking made it easier to represent real individuals, such as Lallemand. A process that was about democratizing imagery but simultaneously upholding specific notions of celebrity, status, and the individual within early 19th-century French society. Editor: I keep coming back to the curve of the nose! Its profile tells a story that the print somehow doesn't have words for. I suppose that is its appeal! It teases you with just a taste of this man. Curator: Absolutely, this print provides so much for one to chew on; there's certainly plenty to continue thinking about here, regarding Lallemand, Collas, and even our contemporary moment. Editor: Definitely food for thought. It leaves one wondering what a closer inspection of Collas’ other work would turn up, if he had a knack for capturing the ethereal qualities of his subjects.