Portret van de schilder Adriaen van Ostade 1756 - 1817

Louis Bernard Coclers created this etching "Portret van de schilder Adriaen van Ostade." Coclers, who lived through the Enlightenment and the French Revolution, here depicts Adriaen van Ostade, a Dutch Golden Age painter. Consider the act of Coclers, who is working in the late 18th century, choosing to depict a painter from the 17th century, at a time of massive social upheaval and revolution. What does it mean to look back to a golden age? What does it mean to claim an artistic lineage? Coclers adopts a light touch, but in doing so flattens the image, almost as if he’s capturing a ghost. There's a fragility to the medium, and to the subject. It has the feeling of trying to hold on to something that is already fading. It serves as a potent reminder of how art and identity are entwined with history.