Portret van schilder Gerhard Seghers 1688 - 1698

This is an undated portrait of the painter Gerhard Seghers, made by an anonymous artist. The work is a print, so we are immediately alerted to the world of early modern commerce and exchange. It evokes the rise of a print culture where images of artists circulated widely. The identity of the sitter can tell us much about the politics of imagery at the time. Seghers was a Flemish painter of the Baroque period, known for his religious and mythological scenes, and a follower of Peter Paul Rubens. The print suggests a desire to canonize important artists, to create a sense of artistic lineage and national pride. Prints like these were collected into albums, and these images contributed to a visual culture around artistic celebrity. To further understand the cultural function of this print, we can look at the archives of printmakers and collectors. We can also study the institutions that promoted artistic reputations. By understanding the image's social life, we can better understand its historical meaning.