Hendrik Danielsz. Hooft, burgemeester van Amsterdam 1788

This silver bust of Hendrik Danielsz. Hooft, mayor of Amsterdam, was made by Jean Baptist Louis Hoffinger in the eighteenth century. During this period, the Dutch Republic was one of the world’s major economic and political powers, and Amsterdam its beating heart. Hoffinger’s choice of silver as a medium reflects the wealth and power of the sitter. Note also the wig. In the Dutch Republic, wigs were seen as symbols of social status and professional authority. Silver busts like these helped to reinforce the status of the sitter and, by extension, of the institutions they represented. Looking at art like this is never just about aesthetics, it can reveal so much about the society and institutions from which it came. To learn more, look into the social history of Amsterdam in the 1700s, paying particular attention to the function of portraits, the social history of wigs, and the political role of the Amsterdam mayors.