Reproductie van een gravure van een portret van Abraham Bloemaert door Hendrik Snyers before 1877

Joseph Maes produced this print of Abraham Bloemaert's portrait using a reproductive engraving technique. It is based on an original engraving by Hendrik Snyers, but such reproductions allow us to understand a lot about 19th-century academic values. This is an example of the way the institutions of art have historically operated to canonize certain figures. Bloemaert was a significant figure in the development of Dutch art, so Maes's work is not just a copy. It represents a conscious act of cultural preservation. The print is made in Belgium at a time when the Dutch Golden Age was being re-evaluated and celebrated as a key moment in European history. The print participates in the construction of a national cultural identity. To fully understand this print, one would need to research the market for reproductive prints in 19th-century Belgium, as well as the critical reception of Bloemaert's work at the time. In doing so, we start to understand how the art of the past is always mediated through the social and institutional contexts of the present.