Reproductie van een gravure van een portret van Lambert Lombard door Hendrick Hondius before 1877

This is Joseph Maes’ reproduction of Hendrick Hondius' engraving of Lambert Lombard. The tools in the background are not mere decoration; they are potent symbols of artistic and intellectual pursuit. The compass, for instance, goes back to antiquity. Initially a tool for navigation and construction, by the Renaissance it had evolved into a symbol of divine creation and the pursuit of perfect form. We see this in the Old Testament where God uses a compass to create the universe. Consider too the architectural column in the backdrop. Columns in art are frequently symbolic of strength and support, but also of classical learning, of the pillars upon which Western civilization is built. In the portrait, we see not just an individual, but also the embodiment of the artist as an intellectual. It is a reminder that art, like all forms of knowledge, builds upon the foundations laid by those who came before. These images, these symbols, carry the weight of cultural memory, echoing through time and shaping our understanding.