Portret van Karl von Eckartshausen 1775 - 1853

Johann Michael Mettenleiter created this print of Karl von Eckartshausen sometime in the late 18th or early 19th century. The setting is a stone wall, perhaps suggesting Eckartshausen's ideas were a foundational part of society. Eckartshausen was a German mystic and philosopher, and this portrait, with its classical bust format, evokes the era of the Enlightenment, when rational thought was considered the key to progress. We can see that Mettenleiter would have been part of an artistic tradition rooted in portraiture and the academy. Artists like him had to develop skills in both observation and representation in order to meet the demands of their patrons. As historians, we might ask, what was the relationship between art and science at this time? How did the art market shape the production of prints and paintings? These are just some of the questions that help us understand art as a product of its time.