Portret van Johan Lodewijk, graaf van Nassau-Hadamar 1610 - 1699

Curator: Ah, yes. Here we have "Portret van Johan Lodewijk, graaf van Nassau-Hadamar," a Baroque print dating, broadly, to the period between 1610 and 1699. Editor: Whoa, a total vibe of regal seriousness radiating from this engraving! So much black ink creating this austere, yet opulent, figure... Curator: The "portrait" style firmly places Johan Lodewijk within a historical context of power and status, something frequently captured via portraiture of the period. He was clearly someone of great significance. We can infer this also from the engraved heraldry just above him. Editor: Right, you can see it in his eyes too – he believes he is the bee’s knees, this Johan. I find it interesting that the rendering reminds me of an older form of photographic negative; almost ghostly. Curator: The "old engraving style," is precisely the effect the artist would have been going for to emphasize legacy and grandeur; the cross hatching of lines giving a texture to the medium so far removed from what you think of as spectral... more an immutable statement. Editor: I think his clothes are screaming more than him! The lace, chains, and brocade create visual overload – as if status alone is the message. How do you think such depictions reinforced hierarchies? Curator: By portraying rulers and aristocrats in idealized and imposing manners such as these, art served as a visual tool for affirming existing class structures... almost to create a sense of awe, bordering on otherness... Editor: And this wasn't always reflective of reality either, was it? Art shaping narratives rather than just reporting facts... Curator: Exactly. Which begs the question of representation; who gets remembered, and how? Editor: Indeed. Engravings like this give tangible form to the past, whether literally accurate or not, letting echoes from then resonate and shift in the here and now. Thanks to that power, I am really seeing our friend Johan anew.