Portret van Willigis 1700 - 1774

Wilhelm Christian Rücker created this print, "Portret van Willigis," sometime before his death in 1774. As a portrait of a historical figure, it invites us to consider the role of images in shaping our understanding of the past and of religious institutions. The visual codes in this portrait, made in the Holy Roman Empire, evoke the stature of Archbishop Willigis, a prominent figure in the late 10th and early 11th centuries. Willigis is framed in an oval, reminiscent of ancient Roman portraiture. Below him, a complex inscription and symbols of ecclesiastical power— a coat of arms and ceremonial objects— reinforce the image of a powerful church official. Rücker uses the print medium to circulate and reinforce the authority of the church and its leaders. To fully understand this portrait, we would need to delve into biographical and institutional records from the period, alongside histories of the visual culture of the Holy Roman Empire. The meaning of art is always contingent on its social and institutional context.