Portret van Karel VI, Rooms-Duits keizer 1711 - 1733

Martin Bernigeroth created this portrait of Charles VI, the Holy Roman Emperor, as an engraving. Bernigeroth, working in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, situated himself within a society deeply shaped by hierarchies of power and class. Portraits of rulers were more than mere likenesses; they were carefully constructed performances of power. Charles is adorned in armor, a symbol of military might. The crown and scepter beside him are not just emblems of his authority, but props in a carefully staged drama of imperial identity. Bernigeroth uses the conventions of portraiture to emphasize the Emperor's place in the social and political order. Consider the expectations placed on Charles VI, both as a man and as an Emperor. His identity was inextricably linked to his role, his personal desires often subsumed by the demands of his position. Bernigeroth's work invites us to reflect on the personal within the political, the individual within the institution, and the identities we perform in relation to power.