Portret van Lambert Lombard 1847 - 1889

This is William Unger’s etching of Lambert Lombard, now in the Rijksmuseum collection, and made sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. Unger lived at a time when the institutions of art, such as museums and academies, were becoming increasingly important. Reproduction became a critical industry for disseminating images to a wider public, and etching was a popular technique for doing so. Here, Unger depicts Lombard, a Renaissance artist from Liège, who was known for his humanist approach to art. By creating an etching of Lombard, Unger inserts him into a canon of great artists, in line with the academic tastes of his time. This elevation of past masters served a social function, reinforcing cultural values and shaping artistic standards. Understanding Unger's work requires looking at the institutions, the artistic trends, and the social values of his time. It reminds us that art is always embedded in a specific cultural context, and the role of the historian is to uncover these layers of meaning.