Porträt des Gaston d'Orléans mit Krone 

Curator: We're looking at "Portrait of Gaston d'Orléans with Crown," currently held at the Städel Museum, likely a study by Robert Nanteuil, rendered with charcoal, chalk, and pencil. Editor: There's something wonderfully melancholic about this drawing. It feels so immediate, almost fleeting, like a whispered secret. The king's crown seems almost like an afterthought. Curator: Precisely. Nanteuil was a master of portraiture, and he used these studies, many rendered in graphite, as foundational works for his engravings. So, this isn’t the end product but a step, showcasing labor division during this historical context. Editor: The labor aspect definitely adds a layer. I'm fascinated by how the softness of the chalk and charcoal render the weight of the subject’s identity. A king brought down to a vulnerable human face, and so efficiently. It makes me think, what did the process mean for Nanteuil's perception of power itself? Curator: I feel like he is humanizing him in an age that was built on a cult of personality. Think of what all those raw materials signify—charcoal, for instance, transformed wood. Editor: Transformation as a social marker, maybe? The alchemic art making representing an individual transformed to something 'higher?' It does give a rather contemporary perspective on royalty, though created in its time. The lack of finish even pulls him down to Earth more than he otherwise would have been. Curator: Exactly. It’s like peeking behind the curtain, a glimpse into the mechanics of representation and the construction of power. What about Nanteuil? Was he aware of the implications in rendering the royals like any other 'commoner'? We are so separated from it by the age difference, aren't we? Editor: We really are. What strikes me most is how much this work subverts that hierarchy just in the simple act of depicting a royal portrait in such an unassuming manner. It is still striking even centuries later. I am not sure that a future generation would not see this portrait this same way we do, even centuries into our own future. Curator: It’s a compelling thought— the inherent disruption embedded in the choices of material and technique. Something as 'humble' as a chalk sketch becoming more revealing than the grand finished print!