Den potuanske borger, der har foreslaaet titlernes afskaffelse, føres i triumf 1786 - 1788

J.F. Clemens created this print, “The Potuan Citizen Who Proposed the Abolition of Titles, Is Carried in Triumph,” using engraving. It is held at the National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen. The image’s strange allegory refers to contemporary events and reveals how art can take a position on political issues. The man borne in triumph called for the abolishment of titles, which would have been quite a radical demand for the time, given the rigid social hierarchies in late eighteenth-century Europe. This small print is rich with symbolism: tree trunks with human faces, men blowing horns, and a stoic observer on the right. Understanding the image’s precise meaning requires careful study. We might research the specific debates over social titles in Denmark at the time and consider the relevance of classical triumphal imagery. What was the artist's social and political position? Was he satirizing the man’s radical ideas or celebrating them? Ultimately, the meaning of art is contingent on social and institutional contexts, and the historian's job is to reconstruct these as best as possible.