Portret van Jacob Cornelisz.

Curator: Look at this engraving from around 1660-1663, "Portret van Jacob Cornelisz." by Frederick Hendrick van den Hove. What’s your immediate take? Editor: Brooding. Very intense gaze. The sitter feels both learned and weary. Curator: The visual language tells us plenty. This is Jacob Cornelisz., a man of God and medicine in Rotterdam. Note the book held in his hands. A book is power, knowledge, access, status… The symbols build the man! Editor: Exactly! Books, like paintings, operated within strict systems of patronage and control. Cornelisz’s position within a religious community surely influenced the creation and reception of his likeness. Is it trying to tell us something? Curator: Of course! Consider the arcadian setting created through shading! I feel that his is being placed in his community. He serves that arch that covers his likeness. Editor: Interesting use of line and shadow, Baroque aesthetics. There’s almost a photographic quality. Is this intended for mass dissemination? An image boosting Cornelisz and the disciplines to which he subscribes. Curator: Engravings were a powerful tool. Cheaper to produce than a painting! His stern expression also hints at qualities they wish to convey in print: his commitment and his devotion. This isn't just a likeness; it is a message. Editor: Yes! The composition really underlines how he wishes to be understood! I want to know who controlled its circulation, whether in theological tracts or medical books. I like how you are tying in the book. Is it being controlled like an animal under a hunter! Curator: What makes art enduring is its capacity for us to impose our realities and perceptions onto them! What does Cornelisz reflect about who we want to become? It speaks to transformation and continuity. Editor: I'm drawn to the tensions the image reveals. An engraving that’s both propaganda and portrait, artistry and commodity. The sitter has an important image, that the sitter is placing into society, and using it to gain the society that they surround them by.