Portret van Jean Baptiste Michiels 1891

Editor: Here we have Auguste Danse's "Portret van Jean Baptiste Michiels" from 1891, a pencil and charcoal drawing. I'm struck by the intense gaze of the subject and how formal the whole piece feels. What do you make of it? Curator: It’s interesting to consider this portrait in the context of late 19th-century Belgium. Think about the rise of photography and its impact on portraiture. Artists increasingly sought to offer something more than a simple likeness. Do you notice how Danse uses light and shadow? Editor: Yes, there’s a very soft, almost diffused quality to the light. It's not starkly realistic. Curator: Exactly. That artistic choice elevates the portrait beyond mere representation. We need to think about the sitter, too. A man of evident status, captured at a moment of Belgian history defined by social stratification. Portraits like these were often tools for reinforcing and communicating that social hierarchy. Do you get a sense of that being performed here? Editor: Definitely. There's a weight of importance in his expression and posture. It feels like a conscious display. But it is just a drawing; what made that a suitable medium? Curator: The choice of drawing is deliberate. It emphasizes the skill of the artist, as this was pre-photography when such works still enjoyed high demand from the bourgeois, whilst nodding to the wider artistic landscape. Editor: That makes sense. I hadn't thought about the performative aspect of status intertwined with artistic trends. Curator: Indeed. And viewing it today, we can analyse not only the sitter, but the image's contribution to constructing a visual language of power in the 19th century. Editor: I'm now considering the social function of this type of art. Thank you for pointing that out. Curator: My pleasure. It's fascinating to see how these older artworks speak to us about enduring themes in culture.