Portret van Robert Junius 1860

This is Leopold Löwenstam's engraving of Robert Junius, though the exact date it was made remains unknown. Löwenstam was born in 1842, making him a product of an era grappling with evolving notions of identity. Here, Junius is captured in a style that harkens back to earlier portraiture conventions, yet it is made in an era of expanding print media. This work raises questions about representation, identity, and cultural exchange. How does Löwenstam, as an artist, engage with and interpret the image of Junius, who was a missionary in Formosa? What does it mean to portray an individual who mediated between cultures? In the delicate lines of the engraving, we see not just a face, but a story of encounters, of faith, and of the complex negotiations that define cultural exchange. This portrait encapsulates the human element of these global interactions, reminding us that history is, at its heart, a collection of individual experiences.