Portrait of an Old Peasant Woman, in Profile to the Right 1874

Curator: Up next, we have Wilhelm Leibl’s etching, "Portrait of an Old Peasant Woman, in Profile to the Right," created in 1874. It’s quite striking, wouldn’t you say? Editor: It absolutely is. Immediately, I’m drawn to the… I don’t know, the quiet dignity radiating from this woman. Her face, etched with the marks of time, tells such a compelling story. Curator: Leibl was very much a realist, focusing on portraying people without idealization. He often depicted rural life, and his portraits sought to capture the essence of the individual. I am fascinated with what realism mean to Leibl himself... Is this realisim based in direct observation? in a kind of raw representation of humanity in a post industrialised era? I have questions! Editor: Those lines that make up the shadows, the cap she's wearing—it's all carefully constructed with an almost relentless detail, but detail that adds to her character and status. The way she looks beyond us could almost be considered romantic... a sense of determination is so clearly visable in those etched lines and layers. Curator: There is something undeniably symbolic in those lines, isn’t there? The etched lines are so powerful in communicating meaning in our world of symbols, the symbols she holds, the wisdom, history, knowledge is all carried. This representation makes her an icon. Editor: I find myself wondering about the choice to render her in profile. Is it to protect her identity, in some sense? Or does it allow us to project our own interpretations more easily onto her, the woman in this rendering. I imagine people are represented every day that hold some symbolic value and knowledge... our elders who paved the way! It makes the representation of this one that more personal. Curator: Perhaps it is the simplification, stripping away distractions to focus solely on her strength and character, even... And those cross-hatched etched lines give it all texture, layers upon layers, each cut adding depth of her life experience and dignity. A tribute. Editor: That’s a lovely thought. It’s fascinating how Leibl's choice of medium enhances that feeling, making it simultaneously intimate and powerful, even from the distant perspective of time. In short: very beautiful! Curator: I totally agree, the dialogue we've created together through the work really does take us to interesting thoughts around how to interpret icons, history, and beauty from those perspectives.