Portret van Michelangelo 1818

This is Karl Traugott Riedel's portrait of Michelangelo, an engraving housed in the Rijksmuseum. Note the subject's intense gaze and furrowed brow, signs of the creative genius. This look transcends mere portraiture; it embodies the archetype of the inspired artist. From antiquity, the beard was a symbol of wisdom, a connection to the ancient philosophers. We see echoes of this in depictions of figures like Socrates and Plato. Over time, the beard became less about scholarly wisdom and more about artistic genius, a shift influenced by Renaissance ideals of the artist as a divinely inspired creator. Consider the emotional intensity captured here; the weight of artistic creation, the burdens and ecstasies, mirrored across centuries in artists' self-portraits from Dürer to Van Gogh, each wrestling with their inner demons and visions, connecting to viewers on a subconscious level, revealing the timeless drama of artistic creation. The cyclical nature of artistic representation shows that symbols are never truly lost, but resurface.