Portret van Maria Serre, moeder van Hyacinthe Rigaud 1702

Pierre Drevet's print portrays Maria Serre within an ornate oval frame, set against a backdrop of classical motifs. Columns and heavy drapery evoke a sense of timeless dignity and recall the Roman concept of gravitas, which the French classicism adopted as its own. The oval frame itself, seemingly suspended in space, harkens back to ancient Roman portraiture, where busts were often placed in niches or aediculae. This motif reappears throughout the Renaissance and Baroque periods, each time imbued with renewed significance. Consider, for example, how Bernini employs similar framing devices to immortalize his subjects, or how they are subtly used in family portraits to indicate a deceased family member. Here, the portrait, set in stone, becomes a memento mori, a meditation on mortality, reminding us of the transience of life, and the cyclical nature of existence and memory.