Louis XVI 1775

Curator: What strikes me immediately is the density of line, and how that contributes to the gravity of the image. Editor: Indeed. This is an engraving of Louis XVI by Pierre Savart dating to 1775. The image itself is quite small. Curator: Considering it is an engraving, the fineness of line is remarkable. Observe the parallel hatching, and the way it models form. Editor: Absolutely, but it is difficult not to see this image through the lens of the French Revolution, and the fraught situation of the monarchy. The very act of memorializing royalty in portraiture seems anachronistic. Curator: Perhaps, but consider the objective order of the lines, the perfect symmetry of the frame, the classical portrait bust. These formal elements speak to a very particular sensibility. Editor: And yet, this sensibility ignores the burgeoning discontent among the French people, the inequality and the injustices of the time. Curator: It is a compelling demonstration of contrasting viewpoints, certainly. Editor: It shows us how art is never created in a vacuum.