Portret van Justus Christian Hennings 1773

Editor: So, here we have Georg Christoph Schmidt’s 1773 engraving, “Portret van Justus Christian Hennings.” It’s quite striking, this image rendered through such painstaking detail. The process itself must have been so time consuming! What's your take on this from a materialist perspective? Curator: Precisely. I find myself immediately drawn to the labor embedded in this engraving. Think about the artisan’s hand, meticulously carving the image into a metal plate. What kind of social status did engravers hold at this time? Were they considered artists or craftspeople? And consider the audience for this print – who had access to it, and what was its function in disseminating images and ideas? Editor: That's fascinating. I hadn't thought about the social implications of the printmaking process itself. The detail of the sitter's clothing is particularly interesting – the lace, the buttons, the elaborate cuffs... Curator: Yes, clothing of the subject! How might that affect your ideas about the economics of textile production, trade routes that brought those materials into the engraver's reach? Consider it as a product, and trace the relationships inscribed upon it! What sort of world of resources, both material and social, might have been necessary to yield a portrait? Editor: That makes me consider it beyond just an image of a person. It is a commodity in itself. Curator: Precisely! Even down to the paper. Exploring that shifts our attention away from some vague genius of authorship into thinking about this portrait as emerging from distinct relations of making. And, how its creation itself may relate to Hennings as a symbol. Editor: It’s amazing to think about all the different aspects that go into creating just one piece of art, both visually and as material object. This makes me see the piece in an entirely different light!