Portret van Ernst-Wilhelm Arnoldi 1840 - 1855

Curator: Here we have Carl Mayer's "Portret van Ernst-Wilhelm Arnoldi," made sometime between 1840 and 1855. It currently resides here at the Rijksmuseum. Editor: He looks like he’s about to tell me my credit is no good. Stern doesn't even begin to cover it. I mean, the technical skill is evident, but goodness, he's radiating disapproval. Curator: That seriousness, the weight of responsibility—it’s partly the neoclassical style, the emphasis on realism aiming for a true representation of character. Consider too it’s an engraving, a print, lending a certain formality and reproducible quality to the image itself. Each line, etched with intent and I imagine painstaking hours. Editor: Exactly! Think about the social implications of this process. Prints made art accessible beyond the elite. Did Herr Arnoldi have multiple copies to hand out to impress his associates? It connects his image, his brand as it were, directly to industry and networks of exchange. The work becomes part of a new, rapidly evolving culture. And that engraver's hand… someone laboured to craft every last line on the plate. I can almost smell the ink and hear the press. Curator: Yes, the hand of the artist is integral. There's something human there, beyond the purely commercial or representational. Look closer – see that almost imperceptible softening around the eyes, a tiny hint of melancholy? Even in that formal pose, I think Mayer has captured something intimate, something that transcends social rank or the mechanics of printmaking. There’s the ghost of vulnerability. Editor: Maybe, but I’m far more struck by the social transaction, the networks that were established and the exchange. His sternness serves a practical purpose: he represents the stability and order desired and esteemed by an emerging middle class. The material speaks directly to their ascent! The labor creates an aspirational model. Curator: It’s funny, isn't it? How different paths, the material versus the imagined, the felt versus the considered, bring us back to seeing anew? Editor: It's certainly fascinating to unravel the story behind a serious face caught in a particular cultural context.