Portret van J.G. Morino 1778 - 1844

This is Johann Friedrich August Clar's portrait of J.G. Morino, made with etching sometime in the late 18th or early 19th century. The image and the intaglio printmaking technique are typical of its era. Looking closely, we can see that the print has been made using a refined etching technique; the neat lines and their close arrangement create the tonal contrasts needed for portraiture. The likeness is framed within an oval, creating an intimate impression. We can think about the effect of the French Revolution on portraiture at this time and how this might influence the image. What does it mean to make a portrait of someone? Who gets represented? How does this representational process change during revolutionary times? What institutional structures are in place to support this kind of portraiture? These are some of the questions that social historians of art ask, using archives and other historical resources to reconstruct the contexts in which art is made and viewed.