Portret van Johan August Noesselt 1809

This is a portrait of Johan August Noesselt, created by Johann Friedrich Bolt in an unknown year, using etching and possibly other techniques. Noesselt was a well-known German Protestant theologian and scholar of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The portrait presents Noesselt within an oval frame, a common visual trope for formal portraiture, which was an established genre in European society. He is depicted wearing a simple cap and coat, indicative of his profession. The presence of such portraits served to immortalize and venerate individuals within the scholarly community. To truly appreciate this etching, one could delve into archives of theological institutions and the histories of German intellectual circles during this period. Understanding the networks of patronage, academic societies, and publishing houses could reveal more about the social conditions that shaped the production and reception of this portrait. As historians, we recognize that the meaning of such artworks is always contingent on their social and institutional context.