Portret van James Reynolds op 63-jarige leeftijd 1748

This is a print of James Reynolds made by John Faber the Younger, an English printmaker. Reynolds, as the inscription tells us, was Lord Chief Justice, a high-ranking legal official in England and Ireland. Here he is seen wearing the traditional robes and wig of his office, a performative costume that separates him from the everyday. The bookshelf behind him, like the robes, is a signifier of class, wealth and education. What Faber has created here is not so much a likeness of Reynolds, but an image of authority and power. The print makes an explicit claim about the ruling class, and about the kind of person who can attain such status. Historians of political imagery can tell us a great deal about the way these portraits were understood, circulated, and used in 18th-century Britain. By doing so, we can understand the relationship between art, social status, and political power.