Portret van Jean-Francois Ducis 1781 - 1835

Curator: Here we have a portrait of Jean-Francois Ducis. It's rendered in pencil, an engraving really, created somewhere between 1781 and 1835, and signed by Jean Jacques (II) Avril. Editor: Oh, the drama! That upward gaze, the hand propping up his chin… he's definitely in the throes of creation or possibly agonizing over a writer's block. I can feel the mental sweat! Curator: Yes, it’s very evocative, isn’t it? These academic portraits often idealize the sitter, but this feels...almost burdened? Editor: Absolutely! He's got this sort of wild-man hair, styled just so, of course. But it suggests a mind teeming with ideas, maybe even slightly overwhelmed by them. There is some powerful pensiveness on display. I like that we can see a life here, not just a position. Curator: That conflict is interesting because Neoclassicism, the prevailing style at the time, strived for order, reason, clarity, all things in direct opposition to mental turmoil, to internal disorder. Editor: Maybe Avril's playing with that tension? Presenting Ducis, the intellectual, wrestling with the very forces that fuel his work. It’s a wonderful psychological dance, made public. The clothing, a draped robe of sorts, is really a subtle piece of stagecraft in how we can accept Ducis in 18th-century society. Curator: Portraits like these had a specific function. They were often commissioned by institutions or, in this case, created as a print to be distributed widely, establishing and reinforcing the sitter’s reputation. Displaying, quite literally, the fruits of his labors, pen in hand, with a large scroll. Editor: True, it’s part PR exercise, part genuine connection to another’s spirit, but beyond the function, there's something deeply relatable about it, isn’t there? That feeling of being caught between inspiration and utter creative collapse, of chasing an ephemeral wisp of an idea! I find myself in that moment just by looking. Curator: It's funny how effective portraits are because even centuries later they have this directness in their gaze and emotion to elicit so many emotions within ourselves. It's truly remarkable.