Zelfportret van Jan Wendel Gerstenhauer Zimmerman 1826 - 1887

Jan Wendel Gerstenhauer Zimmerman made this self-portrait drawing, now held in the Rijksmuseum, using graphite. The beguiling naivety of the portrait is offset by Zimmerman’s assertive gaze. His choice of costume, featuring a 16th-century style beret and loosely draped coat, references an artistic tradition of self-portraiture that aimed to mark out the artist as a figure separate from more conventional modes of work. Looking at it, we can ask, what kind of cultural authority does the artist seek to claim for himself? In the Netherlands, as elsewhere in Europe, artistic academies were powerful institutions whose values influenced the kind of art that was made and exhibited. Zimmerman’s adoption of historical garb can be seen as a conscious positioning of himself in relation to those institutions. Further research into the archives of the Rijksmuseum and historical societies would reveal even more about the social and institutional context in which Zimmerman operated. The real meaning of art is always contingent on its social context.