Portret van de kunstenaar Michelangelo 1612

This is a portrait of Michelangelo, made by Christoforo Bianchi as an engraving. Here we see the power of the image as a cultural symbol, even in the absence of the master’s hand. Consider the institutional forces at play: art academies, portrait societies, and the market for reproductive prints. It was common in the early modern era for artists to circulate images of themselves and other prominent figures. This print flattens the social hierarchy, placing Michelangelo's image in the hands of collectors and admirers. The Italian inscription around the portrait, ‘MICHAEL ANGELVS BONAROTVS FLORENTINVS PATRITIVS AN. AGENS LXXIIII,’ marks the social standing of the artist as Florentine nobility. To truly understand the image, we need to look at archival sources such as correspondence between artists, collectors' inventories, and publications such as artist biographies and collection catalogues. These all help us to reconstruct the complex social lives of images and their viewers.