Portret van Pierre Jurieu 1667 - 1714

Curator: There’s a certain stillness to this engraving, isn't there? A sort of… weighty silence. Editor: It’s a striking piece. The "Portret van Pierre Jurieu," dating roughly from 1667 to 1714, shows a minister and professor in theology living in Rotterdam. Jurieu was a controversial figure, a Huguenot theologian known for his fiery rhetoric and staunch defense of Protestantism. Curator: Fire, yes, but trapped, somehow, behind those carefully etched lines. His eyes are doing all the work. The Baroque style lends him grandeur, of course, but look closer. See the anxiety? Editor: Absolutely. And you have to situate him within the religious and political landscape of the time. He was a refugee from France because of his religious beliefs, so this image operates on several levels—as a portrait, certainly, but also as a symbol of resistance and resilience in the face of persecution. Curator: Symbols. Everything feels symbolic then, doesn’t it? Even the way the light catches the folds of his robes seems deliberate. Almost as if each dark contour contains a sermon of its own. Editor: Precisely. That somber dress code—the cap, the dark vestments—it speaks to the gravity of his role, the immense pressure he faced. This wasn’t just about faith; it was about identity and survival, and that identity under erasure. It's etched, quite literally here, with every careful line. Curator: Thinking about his image living beyond him… it almost feels like an artifact, in a way. As if he suspected it, too: that future viewers would look, would analyze, and draw some of the meaning he encoded, not just as Jurieu, the man, but as an act of protest in image. Editor: In essence, this portrait—so stark, so considered—becomes not just a representation of a person, but an active participant in a conversation that continues across centuries. That conversation surrounding religious freedom, political asylum, and the power of visual representation as acts of personal testimony and historical record. Curator: Yes. He makes us think… doesn't he? The quiet ones often do.