Portret van een onbekende man 1876 - 1908

Martinus van Regteren Altena made this etching of an unknown man sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. It's a small work, but full of character, depicting a man in a wide-brimmed hat, rendered with energetic lines. Altena was Dutch, and though undated, this work situates itself within a tradition of Dutch portraiture that stretches back to Rembrandt. However, the late 19th century was a period of rapid social and economic change in the Netherlands. The rise of industrial capitalism and the growth of cities led to new social classes and new forms of inequality. It is in that context that we might consider this image. Who was this man? Was he someone from the margins of society? Did Altena seek to ennoble him? To answer these questions we can look to the records of the Rijksmuseum, which holds this work, and at the broader social history of the Netherlands. Art, after all, always exists in a specific time and place.