Portret van Notger 1620 - 1699

This is a portrait of Notger, Prince-Bishop of Liege, made as a print by an anonymous artist. The portrait presents Notger in a tondo, a circular frame, with a coat-of-arms and a banner identifying him as bishop and prince. We can see the politics of imagery at play here. It uses visual codes of wealth and status: the fur trim on Notger’s garments, his cross, and the heraldry. These would have been recognizable to viewers as markers of the ruling class within the Prince-Bishopric of Liege, a region now part of Belgium. The portrait speaks to the intertwined powers of church and state in the region at the time. Understanding a work like this requires that we look into the history of this particular political and religious institution. In so doing we can better understand the social conditions that shaped its artistic production.