Fotoreproductie van een detail van een schilderij van een bisschop en een tekenaar c. 1865 - 1900

This is a photographic reproduction of a detail from a painting, made by Laurens Lodewijk Kleijn, sometime between the 19th and 20th century. It depicts a bishop and a draftsman amidst a gathering of onlookers. The act of documentation takes center stage here, as the draftsman meticulously records the presence of the bishop and the attending crowd. Who is writing the history, who is being written about, and what kind of power is at play? The painting asks us to consider the power dynamics inherent in representation, and how it reflects the social hierarchy of the time. During the 19th century, the church was still a powerful entity, and religious figures were often the subject of artistic commissions. Kleijn’s choice to foreground the draftsman, rather than the bishop, hints at a shifting focus, perhaps questioning traditional authority. The quiet act of drawing becomes an assertion of a different kind of power, one that captures and interprets. How do we interpret the relationship between the artist and his subject?