Portret van Titus Rembrandtsz. van Rijn

This is William Unger's print of Titus van Rijn, after a painting by his father Rembrandt. Unger made it using etching in the late 19th century. Born into an artistic family, Titus would have been familiar with the culture of the Amsterdam art world. In this image, we see Titus as a boy, perhaps during one of his lessons. Here, the boy's education is privileged over his individual character. By this time, the Dutch art world was institutionalized with its own academy, and the canonization of certain artists from the past. The choice of this subject in this style speaks to the way that Dutch artists were reckoning with the legacy of the old masters. Art historians use various resources, such as archival documents and cultural histories, to understand artworks within their specific social and institutional contexts.