Bas-reliëf met het portret van Bonaventura van Overbeek 1727

This is Matthijs Pool's delicate bas-relief of Bonaventura van Overbeek. The artwork is a meditation on portraiture, and it captures Van Overbeek in profile, framed within an oval, referencing the classical tradition of portrait medals. Note the drapery, reminiscent of ancient Roman busts. Here we see the enduring influence of classical antiquity, resurrected during the Renaissance and still felt in Pool’s time. The drape, the composition and the profile portrait immortalize its subject. We can find similar compositions in portraits of emperors throughout the Roman empire. This choice is not arbitrary but an intention, perhaps subconscious, to establish a connection with the past. Consider the cultural memory at play here, the cyclical return to classical forms to imbue a sense of timelessness and authority. This bas-relief is not merely a portrait, but a statement about legacy and the enduring power of images across time.