Portret van Hadrianus Junius by Pieter van der (I) Borcht

Portret van Hadrianus Junius

1574 - 1612

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Artwork details

Medium
engraving
Dimensions
height 187 mm, width 192 mm, height 240 mm, width 210 mm
Location
Rijksmuseum
Copyright
Rijks Museum: Open Domain

Tags

#portrait#pen illustration#old engraving style#northern-renaissance#engraving

About this artwork

Pieter van der Borcht made this portrait of Hadrianus Junius as an engraving. Looking at this portrait, we can see that the artist made it during a time when a humanist education and a writer’s intellectual gifts were highly prized. Hadrianus Junius was a renowned physician and scholar based in Haarlem in the Netherlands. The setting is not naturalistic but symbolic: the cherubs and grotesque masks of the frame are classical references that signal his learning. The Latin text praises his virtue and asks whether he is not the most supreme in the history of his country. This image and its inscription are designed to enhance Junius’s status and fame in a society that valued the written word and the revival of ancient learning. The Rijksmuseum holds this print, reminding us of the important role that museums and other institutions play in preserving and interpreting art. Studying the social and intellectual context of a work of art, using resources such as letters, publications, and institutional records helps us to appreciate its meaning.

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