Fotoreproductie van een geschilderd portret van een man, aangeduid als opa Ghesquiere 1850 - 1892

This photogravure reproduction by Charles D'Hoy captures a painted portrait of a man, referred to as Opa Ghesquiere. The portrait, framed in an oval, immediately brings to mind the conventions of classical portraiture. Consider how this mode of capturing an individual’s likeness extends back through the Renaissance, echoing in the Imperial Roman tradition of sculpted portrait busts. The subject's gaze, steady and direct, and the formal attire of jacket and waistcoat, speak to a desire for dignity and social standing. We see this echoed across time, such as in the full-length portraits of emperors and Popes. The portrait serves as a cultural touchstone—it’s a vessel for ancestral memory, embodying both the personal history of a family and broader cultural values. It echoes how the past continually resurfaces, transformed, in the present.