Reproductie van een gravure van een portret van Peter Paul Rubens door Paulus Pontius before 1877

This is Joseph Maes' reproduction of Paulus Pontius' engraving of Peter Paul Rubens. Maes was born in 1838, well into the 19th century. Considering this time frame, the image serves as a window into the enduring legacy of Rubens, whose influence spanned centuries. The artwork straddles the line between homage and historical record. Maes' print places Rubens in the canon of art history, continuing the narrative of the "Great Master." It invites us to reflect on the role of reproduction in shaping cultural memory and the construction of artistic identity. The very act of reproducing a portrait of Rubens speaks volumes about the values and priorities of the 19th-century art world. It invites us to consider who gets remembered, who gets canonized, and who gets left out of the dominant narratives of art history. The piece is a quiet, yet persistent reminder of the power of images to shape our understanding of the past and to influence the present.