Diverse edelen, plaat 19 Possibly 1530 - 1620

Nicolaas Hogenberg made this print, “Diverse edelen, plaat 19,” sometime in the 16th century, using engraving. The print depicts a procession of noblemen on horseback, their attire and weaponry marking their status and cultural origins. Hogenberg was working in a time of immense social upheaval. The Protestant Reformation, with its challenge to the Catholic Church's authority, and the rise of humanism, emphasizing individual agency and reason, dramatically reshaped European society. This work captures a sense of pride and power through the noblemen in their finery, but we have to ask at what cost did this come? Who was excluded from the scene? Hogenberg's composition, by presenting these men in profile, invites us to consider the individuals within the group but also as representative types. The fine lines of the engraving create a detailed and almost ethnographic record of status and identity. The very act of cataloging these figures points to the early impulses of classification that would later inform scientific and racial discourses. The tension between individual portraiture and type raises essential questions about identity.