Studiehoved af gammel mand i profil 1765 - 1833

Gerhard Ludvig Lahde created this head study of an old man in profile using engraving. Lahde was working in a period where physiognomy, the assessment of a person's character or personality from their outer appearance, was popular. Notice the man’s turban. These exoticizing depictions of figures from the Middle East and North Africa were common in European art. The man’s age, coupled with the detailed rendering of his facial features, suggests an attempt to capture wisdom and experience. However, this may be filtered through a lens of colonial-era assumptions about the ‘Orient.’ Lahde’s work prompts us to think about how artists of the time engaged with notions of otherness, and how those representations might reflect or challenge the prevailing attitudes towards cultural identity. How does seeing this man make you feel, and what does that tell us about our own assumptions?