Portret van Henri Auguste d'Anethan 1861

Curator: Let's take a look at this subtle portrait of Henri Auguste d'Anethan by Joseph Schubert, created in 1861. It’s currently held at the Rijksmuseum. What's your first impression? Editor: Intimate, and somehow melancholic. He seems a bit…resigned, doesn’t he? I immediately notice the soft pencil work, the almost palpable grain of the paper itself. It invites closeness. Curator: Indeed. Notice the medium—pencil, graphite on paper. Schubert seems less interested in a flamboyant display of wealth and status and more concerned with capturing a certain...likeness, wouldn’t you say? It’s like he's looking straight at us from across the years. Editor: It’s precisely the "on paper" aspect that fascinates me. Graphite—the raw material dug from the earth, ground, refined, pressed into service to render a portrait. It's about process; from extraction to exquisite shading on a surface made from processed wood pulp, isn't it? How readily we gloss over all this making when discussing “art." Curator: It’s tempting to think of this piece as mere documentation, almost scientific, but it's also undeniably artistic. It almost gives a feel of stepping into the man’s world and mind in an emotional way, just by the position that he holds. Editor: I agree, but I am captivated by thinking of the economic and material conditions which provided d’Anethan with the leisure to pose and Schubert with the material means to produce the portrait. D’Anethan, a prominent Belgian politician and diplomat in the 19th century, represents the ruling class—with their manufactured suits and hats to match their self-importance. Curator: He looks at us and it also creates a moment. We see a man, almost unassuming, waiting to be properly "taken in" by us viewers. It’s almost a conversation we were just pulled into without any cue. This could be a moment captured perfectly by Joseph Shubert with nothing but graphite and paper. Editor: True. So, in the end, we find both an immediacy—the delicate touch of pencil on paper—and a slow reveal, uncovering the material layers propping up the social world on display. Thank you.