Portret van Ernst Gottfried Baldinger 1775 - 1834

Editor: This print, "Portrait of Ernst Gottfried Baldinger," dates from sometime between 1775 and 1834. It's at the Rijksmuseum, and the medium is engraving. I'm struck by how crisp and clean the lines are, giving it an almost neoclassical feel. How do you interpret this work? Curator: It's more than a likeness, isn't it? The profile portrait, framed in an oval, speaks to a very specific visual language. Think of Roman coins and cameos – powerful signifiers of status and intellect that continue to reverberate here. How does Baldinger, privy counselor and physician, present himself to posterity through Westermayr's burin? Editor: I guess it's a visual shorthand for "important intellectual". The profile is quite severe. Almost...stoic? Curator: Precisely! Notice the wig, meticulously rendered, the precise cut of his coat. Everything points towards Enlightenment ideals: reason, order, and a commitment to public service. Even the script used in the engraving below speaks volumes. Editor: It feels almost...austere? Compared to some more elaborate portraits I've seen from the period. Curator: But is that austerity also a kind of power? Think of how those classical busts presented leaders… they wanted to project respect and intellectual authority. How do you think it affects our reading of Baldinger, knowing that he was also a physician? Editor: It makes sense, that seriousness…it links him to this long tradition of wisdom. This portrait uses symbols that add layers to our understanding of the person, more than just showing what he looked like. Curator: Exactly. Visual memory becomes cultural memory. And portraits, especially in print, democratized these established forms of remembrance. They granted wider access to constructed personhoods. Food for thought!