Portret van Anna Maria Taunay-Scharff 1798

Jacob Ernst Marcus created this portrait of Anna Maria Taunay-Scharff using etching and possibly other techniques. The print offers insight into the social and cultural roles of women during this period. Anna Maria's attire, including her bonnet and shawl, speaks to the conventions of modesty and domesticity expected of women in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Yet, there’s something about her gaze that hints at a more complex interior life. It invites us to consider her position within the societal structures of her time. Was she merely a subject of domestic life, or did she find ways to exert agency within those constraints? Portraits such as these often reflect the sitter's social standing and the artist's interpretation of their identity. Marcus’s print encourages us to look beyond the surface and to contemplate the untold stories of women in history.