Portret van Georg Friedrich Carl von Brandenburg-Bayreuth 1745

Curator: Here we have Johann Wilhelm Windter’s 1745 engraving, “Portret van Georg Friedrich Carl von Brandenburg-Bayreuth," held here at the Rijksmuseum. Quite a mouthful! What's grabbing your attention? Editor: All that fuss just to depict a man swimming in lace! Look at this guy, practically drowning in fabric, embellishments, and swirling hair. How can anyone even begin to perceive what is *actually* underneath all of that performance? Curator: That 'performance', as you call it, is crucial. Look closer; it's all about signalling power through highly skilled craftsmanship. This engraving showcases, rather effectively, the social currency of detailed labor. Engravings like this one required master engravers, specialized tools, high-quality paper and ink, each a considered and deliberate choice, showing an elevated form of... showing off. Editor: I get the social cachet—it's the 18th century equivalent of a luxury car ad, isn't it? Still, that overwhelming focus on appearance leaves me feeling...uneasy. Almost as though I'm being aggressively convinced to consider the subject someone worth remembering when, quite frankly, what has he even done to be memorable? Curator: Ah, but that's where it gets interesting. Georg Friedrich Carl’s legacy as Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth is, perhaps, not as prominent as the image suggests, hence a deliberate act of myth-making. Editor: Which circles back to my original point! The *making* here, in the traditional, tangible sense of craft and labor, has very cleverly taken center stage, almost *over* the story and substance, wouldn’t you say? Curator: Indeed! Though, even with the societal critique bubbling, one cannot deny the mastery behind such detail in a reproducible medium. This wasn’t about singular art-object preciousness, but wider dispersal—mass communication via luxury object, so to speak. It serves as a stark visual lesson on societal pressures, self-curation, and enduring human foibles through masterful labor and artful representation. Editor: So, even while interrogating power structures and the means of making, this engraving still casts a rather irresistible, strangely captivating spell, doesn't it? A potent, complicated artifact that manages to provoke contemplation, admiration, and just a little bit of skepticism all at once. Curator: A delightful collision, precisely, reminding us how images and craftsmanship are not just recordings, but persuasive orchestrations in our historical opera.