Christen Christensen. Medaljør 1824 - 1864

Caroline Behrend created this print of Christen Christensen using burin engraving. The image is made from a series of tiny cuts into a copper plate, each one catching ink and transferring it to the paper. While the image itself depicts a man of status, the process used to create it tells another story. Engraving was a highly skilled but also laborious process, demanding precision and patience. The engraver would have spent hours hunched over the plate, meticulously carving the lines that define Christensen's likeness. The very act of translating Christensen's image into the reproducible form of a print speaks to the changing social landscape of the time. The mechanization of image production allowed for wider distribution of portraits. Therefore engraving becomes a way of capturing and disseminating status.