Edelman met degen en baret 1722 - 1784

Curator: Here we have a rather dashing engraving, Edelman met degen en baret, created sometime between 1722 and 1784 by Michel Barthélémy Ollivier. It's a classic portrait of the period, etched with impressive detail. Editor: My first thought? Swashbuckler chic! There’s something almost theatrical about the way he’s posed. Kind of like he's stepped out of a play. Curator: Indeed! The contrapposto of his posture, leaning against what appears to be a low wall, provides a dynamic asymmetry, disrupted by the very straightness of his sword. Note also how Ollivier’s skilled use of hatching and cross-hatching gives depth to the garments. Editor: It gives him a real presence, doesn’t it? The feathered hat and the sword, of course, they speak of status, of power. I wonder what his story is? Is he on his way to a duel, or simply posing for posterity? He has almost defiant energy but not entirely threatening; just…ready. Curator: Semiotically, the sword clearly represents his position within a structured social hierarchy; and yet there is more complexity here. The baret atop his head softens the overt militancy and alludes perhaps to an identity that also included arts or scholarship. The Baroque adored its dualities. Editor: The light in the artwork… it plays across his face and clothing. I love the confident set of his mouth and eyes! It really pulls the viewer in. Even now. It's cool when portraits reach through time like that and demand attention! You look at that guy and you figure he has STORIES. Curator: Ollivier captures, through meticulous layering of lines, not just an individual, but a broader sense of his time—the cultural performance of masculinity, of class, of power. There’s so much encoded within its relatively small compass. Editor: Exactly, it is a time capsule isn't it! All that said I wouldn't want to mess with that guy. And this etching of him holds real intensity; Ollivier certainly made an impression. Curator: A remarkable distillation, indeed, of a singular man and a defining moment. Editor: Yeah, the more I look the more this portrait hints at an attitude to life I really wish I had.