Portret van Barthold Hinrich Brockes 1743

Curator: I am completely transported! There's a stillness here, an almost...papery quietness to it, even though it’s just an image. Editor: Absolutely, there's an intriguing serenity. We are viewing "Portret van Barthold Hinrich Brockes," an engraving crafted back in 1743. The artist? Gustav Andreas Wolfgang. It’s currently held in the Rijksmuseum. Curator: An engraving! No wonder I get such a sharp impression. The realism and the delicate lines are working together to deliver his serious gaze directly to me, right now. What does it tell us about Mr. Brockes himself? Editor: Well, the inscription identifies him as a "Senator." The Baroque era, with its elaborate wigs and composed posture, positioned men in the upper strata of society to appear refined. It seems intentional—his identity and class standing were very important and deliberately emphasized. Curator: Do you think so? To me, he looks almost... trapped by all that status. There is something about the eyes, they speak of the universal desire for something more, despite those restrictive garments! His fingers look sensitive. Did you notice that? Like he secretly wants to be writing poetry and tossing off those restrictive societal codes... Editor: An interesting interpretation! What catches my eye is less his internal desires, which are ultimately unknowable, and more how Wolfgang chose to represent power during that historical period. Look at the details of his garments and posture in relation to art that followed the Enlightenment. They reflect an evolution in class power that is hard to ignore. Curator: Point taken. I get locked into feeling what it might be like to inhabit that wig. I hadn’t really considered what this image was meant to project publicly. Editor: That's the beauty of art isn't it? Both experiences are possible. Considering context, and indulging empathy. Curator: It absolutely is! An endless, echoing conversation across time. Editor: Precisely. It's up to each viewer to engage in the dialectic as actively or passively as one may choose.