Portret van kunstenaar Lucas van Leyden 1752 - 1762

Antonio Pazzi made this portrait of Lucas van Leyden using etching and burin around the mid-18th century. Pazzi was an Italian printmaker working at a time when the academies of art were becoming increasingly important institutions. Portraits of artists were very popular at this time, often appearing in series. They served a dual purpose: to celebrate artistic genius and to assert the cultural importance of the academies themselves. We can see this in the inscription below the image which praises Lucas as a painter and engraver. This was a period of intense debate about the relative merits of different art forms, so this inscription makes a clear claim about Lucas's status. The academies played a central role in these debates, and prints such as this one helped to shape public opinion. By exploring the archives of institutions such as the art academies, we can start to understand the complex social forces that shaped the production and reception of art in the 18th century.