Portret van Christoph Christian Sturm 1769 - 1819

Editor: This is a print, an engraving to be exact, titled "Portret van Christoph Christian Sturm" made sometime between 1769 and 1819 by Gottlob August Liebe. Sturm seems to be framed in an oval portrait, but it looks so austere. What should we make of it? Curator: I see a work deeply embedded in the structures of power and representation. Look at how Sturm is presented—the attire, the frame, the very act of memorializing him through a print. This isn't simply a portrait; it's a carefully constructed image designed to project authority and reinforce a certain social order. Consider, who was this clergyman? What societal forces did he represent? How does this image serve those forces? Editor: So, it’s less about Sturm the individual and more about the system he represents? Curator: Precisely! It’s vital to think about the historical and societal contexts. We should interrogate whose stories get told, whose faces get immortalized, and what power dynamics are at play in these visual representations. Who had access to portraiture at that time, and what did that signify? Editor: It’s interesting to think of art as reinforcing social power structures instead of merely reflecting reality. It puts the image in a different, more critical perspective. Curator: Exactly! Now, considering our present day, are these power structures really relics of the past? How do contemporary forms of portraiture continue these legacies or challenge them? That’s what this portrait, and art history more broadly, compels us to ask. Editor: This reframes the whole artwork for me. I’m leaving with much to reflect on. Thank you!